Army

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many infantry (a) reserve forces, (b) tanks, (c) armoured vehicles and (d) helicopters are (i) available to and (ii) deployable by the Army; and what the equivalent numbers were in 2000.

Adam Ingram: The following tables set out both personnel and equipment available to the Army as at January 2006 and shows the figures for 2000. In principle the equipment and personnel could be deployed in the appropriate circumstances.
	
		
			 Equipment 2000 2006 
		
		
			 Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Tracked (CVR)  (T) All variants 1,557 1,226 
			 Fighting Vehicle 430 (FV430) Series 1,721 1,492 
			 Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle (All variants) 794 794 
			 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (C2 MET) 309 385 
			 SAXON 622 622 
			 Lynx 128 104 
			 Attack Helicopter (Apache) 0 67 
			 A109 4 4 
			 Gazelle 136 72 
		
	
	
		
			 Personnel 2000 2006 
		
		
			 Regular Army Total Trained Infantry Strengths 25,140 24,350 
			 Territorial Army (TA) Strengths 45,590 37,500 
			 of which:   
			 are OTC 5,090 5,690 
			 of which:   
			 are Mobilised TA personnel 690 1,080 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Regular Army Trained Infantry Strengths include all trained officers and soldiers who are Infantry capbadged and exclude all personnel who are posted to the Infantry.
	2. TA Strengths exclude NRPS and FTRS.
	a. UKTAP (UK Trained Adult Personnel)—UKTAP includes those on Long Service List (LSL) engagement. UKTAP posts can be filled by Full Time Reserve Service, but the strength figures do not include FTRS. However, FTRS figures can be provided on request.
	b. MTM—Manning and Training Margin. The MTM provides liability cover to prevent gaps being left in units when personnel become unavailable for certain manning and training reasons (DCI(A) 54/03).
	3. Equipment includes only that equipment operated by Army personnel.

Army Training

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what army regulations determined the obligation of the army to complete basic training for servicemen referred to in his Department's answer of 7 June 2004, Official Report, column 215W.

Don Touhig: holding answer 28 March 2006
	The requirement for National Servicemen to complete basic training was set out in the War Office booklet Regulations for National Service Men in the Army.

Capita Group

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much business his Department has placed with (a) Capita Group plc and (b) its subsidiaries in each of the last five years; what the total value is of outstanding contracts placed with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries by his Department; for which current tenders issued by his Department (i) Capita Group plc and (ii) its subsidiaries have been invited to bid; and whether (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries have seconded staff (1) temporarily and (2) on a longer-term basis to (X) his Department and (Y) its agencies.

Adam Ingram: The following table provides the information requested on the value of business and outstanding contracts that the Ministry of Defence has with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries for the last five financial years. Contract information has been taken from the centrally held Defence Bills Agency database and tender information from the MOD Defence Contract Bulletin (DCB) and The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). This centrally held data (which captures information on proposed contracts over approximately £100,000 in value) records no current invitations to tender with Capita Group plc or its subsidiaries.
	On the question of secondments from Capita to the MOD, the MOD Interchange Programme sets out the broad policy direction for industry secondees but does not hold detailed personal information about secondees working in the MOD. Accordingly, while we can provide information concerning the reported total number of civilian staff seconded to MOD over the last three years, we are unable to identify whether the secondments are from Capita Group plc or its subsidiaries. This level of information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost from local budget holders across the MOD.
	
		
			 (a) Financial year/ (b) Contract awarded to (c) Contract value (£) (d) Outstanding contract value (£) 
		
		
			 2005–06   
			 The Capita Group Plc 18,649 18,649 
			 Capita Symonds Ltd. 460,000 460,000 
			 Capita Symonds Business Services Ltd. 10,350 10,350 
			
			 2004–05   
			 Capita Symonds Ltd. 2,000,000 0 
			 Capita Resourcing Ltd. 700,000 700,000 
			 Capita Resourcing Ltd. 12,306 0 
			 Capita Symonds Ltd. 925,196 925,196 
			 Capita Business Services Ltd. 120,000 120,000 
			
			 2003–04   
			 Capita Business Services Ltd. 65,800 0 
			 Capita Business Services Ltd. 70,011 0 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 42,354 0 
			
			 2002–03   
			 Capita Business Services Ltd. 36,220 0 
			 Capita Health Solutions Ltd. 7,500,000 7,500,000 
			 Capita Business Services Ltd. 47,991 0 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 30,591 0 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 82,344 0 
			
			 2001–02   
			 Capita RAS 34,891 0 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 159,900 0 
			 Total 12,316,603 9,734,195 
		
	
	Note:
	Column (d) does not give the value of outstanding payments due to the company; it gives, as requested, the value of contracts not yet complete. So, for example, the contract value of £7.5 million in 2002–03 has to date had payments of £3.6 million made against it.

Defence Munitions Centre (Crombie)

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his Written Statement of 28 February 2006, Official Report, columns 9–10WS, on Defence Munitions Centre Crombie, what assessment he has made of the impact of downgrading Defence Munitions Centre Crombie on the potential for future defence contracts in Rosyth.

Adam Ingram: The study into the Future Role of Crombie established that the structural and business changes at Defence Munitions Centre Crombie will not impact on Rosyth's ability to compete for Defence contracts.

Departmental Staff

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) part-time and (b) full-time staff are employed by his Department in Scotland.

Don Touhig: The number of civilian part-time and full-time staff employed by the Ministry of Defence in Scotland as at 1 January 2006 is:
	
		
			  Headcount 
		
		
			 Full time 6,660 
			 Part time 440 
			 Total 7,100 
		
	
	1. Civilian totals include Non Industrial, Industrial, and Trading Fund personnel, but excludes Royal Fleet Auxiliary Personnel.
	2. Civilian totals are rounded to the nearest 10.
	Service data are published quarterly in Tri-Service Publication 10; the most recent publication shows the numbers of Service personnel at 1 January 2006. Copies of TSP 10 are available in the Library of the House and also on www.dasa.mod.uk.

Far East Prisoners of War

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims for the far east prisoner of war ex-gratia payment have been rejected on the grounds that the claimant was not interned in a qualifying camp.

Don Touhig: holding answer 30 March 2006
	62 claims for payment under the Civilian Internee part of the scheme have been rejected on the basis that the claimant had not provided evidence to confirm internment. This includes both those who could not provide the evidence required to demonstrate that they had been among those held in an internment camp, and those who claimed to be held in locations that did not qualify as internment.

Pensions

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what criteria were used in deciding not to make a dedicated pension scheme available to members of the reserve forces.
	(2)  if he will consider allowing members of the reserve forces to have the option of contributing their annual bounty payment into a reserve forces pension scheme.

Don Touhig: Members of the reserve forces who serve on a full time reserve service commitment or an additional duties commitment are pensioned in accordance with administrative arrangements made under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 75 or the Reserve Forces Pension Scheme. Aside from mobilised service, volunteer reserve service does not attract entitlement to an armed forces pension because the terms and conditions of service are entirely different from those of the regulars. It attracts payment of an annual bounty in recognition of the different nature of the commitment. Volunteer reserves have an option to make pension savings through the Armed Forces Stakeholder pension scheme.

Tours of Duty

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many tours each regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps has undertaken in the last five years; what the (a) location and (b) length was of each; and what the length of time was between each deployment.

Adam Ingram: The following table contains information on the tour intervals between unaccompanied regimental or formed sub-unit level operational deployments by the Royal Armoured Corps (including the Household Cavalry Regiment) in the past five years.
	
		The deployments and the length of time (intervals between each deployment for each royal armoured corps regiment in the past five years—1 March to 28 February 20 06
		
			 Regiment Deployment Interval Deployment Interval Deployment Interval Deployment Interval 
		
		
			 The Household Cavalry Regiment Bosnia (sub-unit) October 2001 to September 2002 3 months Iraq (sub-unit) February to July 2003 2.5 months Bosnia (sub-unit) October 2003 to March 2004 0.5 month Iraq (Regt minus) April to October 2004 — 
			 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards Bosnia (sub-unit) October 2000 to September 2001 16 months Iraq February to June 2003 1 6 months Iraq November 2004 to April 2005 — — — 
			 The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) Iraq February to June 2003 26 months Iraq November 2005 to date — — — — — 
			 The Royal Dragoon Guards Iraq November 2004 to April 2005 — — — — — — — 
			 The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish) Kosovo (Regiment minus) November 2001 to April 2002 n/a Kosovo (sub-unit) May to October 2002 12 months Iraq November 2003—April 2004 — — — 
			 9th/12th Royal Lancers (The Prince of Wales' s) Kosovo (sub-unit) March to June 2001 21 months Bosnia (sub-unit) April to October 2003 1 months Iraq (Regt minus) November 2003 to April 2004 1 8 months Iraq November 2005 to date  
			 The King's Royal Hussars Northern Ireland December 2002 to July 2003 21 months Iraq May to October 2005 — — — — — 
			 The Light Dragoons Bosnia (sub-unit) October 2002 to March 2003 4 months Iraq August to October 2003 1 8 months Iraq May to October 2005 — — — 
			 The Queen's Royal Lancers Bosnia (sub-unit) May to October 2001 15 months Kosovo May to October 2002 1.2 months Iraq May -October 2004 — — — 
			 2nd Royal Tank Regiment Kosovo March to June 2001 19 months Iraq (sub unit only from June to November) February to November 2003 1 3 months Kosovo (sub-unit) May to November 2005 — — —

Capita Group

Chris Grayling: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much business his Department has placed with (a) Capita Group plc and (b) its subsidiaries in each of the last five years; what the total value is of outstanding contracts placed with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries by his Department; for which current tenders issued by his Department (i) Capita Group plc and (ii) its subsidiaries have been invited to bid; and whether (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries have seconded staff (1) temporarily and (2) on a longer-term basis to (X) his Department and (Y) its agencies.

Jim Murphy: This information requested for the Cabinet Office is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Centre of Government Guide

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether he plans to issue an updated version of the "Guide to the Centre of Government".

Jim Murphy: The Government do not plan to issue another version of the guide. The information contained in the "Guide to the Centre of Government" has been incorporated into the central departments' public websites which can be accessed via www.pm.gov.uk. www.treasury.gov.uk and www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk. The information on the websites is regularly updated.

Carbon Emissions

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of UK carbon emissions were attributable to (a) electricity generation, (b) aviation and (c) road transport in each year since 1990.

Elliot Morley: I have been asked to reply.
	UK Carbon dioxide emissions attributable to electricity generation, aviation and road transport are shown in the table. A separate column has been provided for international aviation because, under the rules agreed for reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, emissions from international aviation are recorded as memorandum items in the national greenhouse gas inventories, but are not added in to national totals.
	Figures are consistent with the UK Greenhouse gas inventory 1990–2004, released on the Defra website in January and to be published in April.
	
		CO 2  emissions as a percentage of UK total Percentage
		
			  Energy industries Domestic aviation International aviation Road transport 
		
		
			 1990 34 0.2 2.6 19 
			 1991 34 0.2 2.6 18 
			 1992 33 0.2 2.9 19 
			 1993 30 0.2 3.2 20 
			 1994 30 0.2 3.4 20 
			 1995 30 0.2 3.7 20 
			 1996 29 0.3 3.7 20 
			 1997 27 0.3 4.1 21 
			 1998 28 0.3 4.6 21 
			 1999 27 0.3 5.1 22 
			 2000 28 0.4 5.5 21 
			 2001 30 0.4 5.3 21 
			 2002 30 0.4 5.3 22 
			 2003 31 0.4 5.3 21 
			 2004 31 0.4 5.9 21

Bovine TB

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research the Government have conducted into links between badgers and the spread of tuberculosis to cattle; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: DEFRA has commissioned several research projects to explore these links. Details are available on the DEFRA website at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/research/projects.htm
	The evidence for a link between bovine TB in badgers and bovine TB in cattle was reviewed in 1997 by the Independent Scientific Review Group, led by Professor John Krebs. The Group concluded that
	"the sum of evidence strongly supports the view that, in Britain, badgers were a significant source of infection in cattle".
	The Executive Summary of the Group's findings and recommendations is available on the DEFRA website at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/publications/krebs.htm

Cement Kilns

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions (a) she and (b) her Department has held with the (i) energy and (ii) cement industries on the use of waste as a power source for cement kilns; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 20 March 2006
	The Government recognises the value of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) as a positive energy source. Therefore the Governments Waste Implementation Programme ("WIP") commissioned RPS consultants in September 2005 to approach industrial intensive energy users to establish interest in using solid recovered fuel ("SRF") as an alternative energy source to compete with current fuels. A workshop was held in London on 17 January 2006 attended by ten industrial companies and a potential SRF supplier at which the benefits and relative economics of this approach were presented and discussed.
	Phase 2 work is about to be commissioned involving the preparation of a more detailed "generic" proposal describing possible development and financing structures along with refined economics.
	With regard to (b) (ii), WIP is aware of discussions between developers of mechanical and biological treatment ("MBT") plant and cement companies with the aim of securing outlets for SRF. This outlet route is not well developed and contracts are usually of short duration for limited tonnages. For this reason, WIP is endeavouring to stimulate alternative RDF outlets with intensive energy users or in purpose built energy recovery facilities.

Chewing Gum

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to extend the chewing gum pilot schemes to the rest of England and Wales; and what estimate she has made of the costs of so doing.

Ben Bradshaw: The Chewing Gum Action group announced on 2 March 2006 that it would be working with 15 local authorities across England to launch a series of chewing gum litter campaigns between May and September this year which would build on the success of the pilot campaigns in 2005. The action group is funding the poster advertising for these campaigns using the 'Thanks for binning your gum' message that was piloted in Preston, Manchester and Maidstone. The action group has invested £600,000 in the 2006 campaigns.
	Any decision on the scope, focus and funding of future campaigns will be made jointly by the Chewing Gum Action Group later this year, and will be informed by analysis of the 15 campaigns.

Demography

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what estimate she has made of the rat population in (a) Southend, (b) Essex and (c) England in each of the last 15 years for which information is available;
	(2)  what steps her Department (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to reduce the rodent population in (i) Southend, (ii) Essex, (iii) Greater London and (iv) England.

Ben Bradshaw: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 17 March 2006, Official Report, column 2508W.
	The problem of rat infestation and general pest control is left to the discretion of individual borough councils.
	Advisory leaflets are available on the Defra website, which deal with a range of wildlife problems and ways to resolve them, including the control of rats. These can be found at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/leaflets.htm.
	The Environmental Health Group at Southend-on-Sea borough council provides a free service for the treatment of rats. An appointment for a Pest Control Officer to visit can be made by ringing (01702) 215811.

Domestic Rubbish

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's policy is on citizens being fined for placing small quantities of domestic rubbish in municipal rubbish bins; and what the Government's definition is of domestic rubbish.

Ben Bradshaw: There is a range of powers available to local authorities to ensure waste is dealt with legitimately and not illegally dumped. Government are encouraging authorities to make best use of the 'toolkit' of powers available to them but local authority enforcement policies will also be based on local priorities.
	Sections 46 and 47 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 enable local authorities to serve notices on occupiers of domestic premises and business prescribing the kind and number of waste receptacles where the waste needs to be placed. The notice can specify, for example, the size of the receptacles or where the receptacles must be placed to facilitate waste collection. The notice could also be used to prescribe that household waste be placed in receptacles provided by the council.
	People who fail to comply with a notice issued under sections 46 and 47 can be prosecuted through the courts, facing a maximum fine of £1,000. From 6 April 2006 local authorities will be able to issue £100 fixed penalty notices to householders and businesses that do not comply with such a notice.
	There is no legal definition of 'domestic rubbish' but section 75 of the 1990 Act sets out the meaning of controlled waste and defines "household waste" as waste from—a domestic property; a caravan, a residential home; premises forming part of a university or school; and premises forming part of a hospital or nursing home etc.

Invasive Top Mouth Gudgeon

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's response was to the report on the dispersal of the invasive top mouth gudgeon, Pseudorasbora parva, in the UK: a vector for an emergent infectious disease published in 2005 by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Environment Agency.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 27 March 2006
	Defra is concerned about the potential threat that the non-native top mouth gudgeon may pose to native species. Under Section 30 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975, persons wishing to introduce fish into inland unenclosed waters in England and Wales require the consent of the Environment Agency; such consent is never given in respect of top mouth gudgeon. In addition, persons wishing to keep these fish in enclosed waters require a licence to do so, issued under the terms of the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) Orders made under the Import of Live Fish Act 1980. The licences are issued by the Fish Health Inspectorate at Cefas, Weymouth and enforced by them and by the Environment Agency. We recognise that tighter controls are necessary but their introduction would require primary legislation on which work is currently in hand.
	The Environment Agency, through its fisheries monitoring programmes, surveys some 1,400 freshwater sites annually and enlist the help of anglers to establish the presence of non-native species including the top mouth gudgeon. They also operate eradication programmes to remove non-native species where this is practical and the fish concerned pose a threat to native populations.
	Defra is funding research at Cefas into the infectious disease known as the "rosette-like agent" under an emerging aquatic diseases risk and awareness project. We have commissioned a further three year research project at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology on the prevalence and impact of the rosette-like agent.

Map Modification Register

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many local authorities have a register of definitive map modification order applications as specified by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; when each authority that does not have such a register plans to introduce one; and why each has not yet introduced one.

Jim Knight: Local highway authorities are responsible for the management of rights of way and all information relating to modification orders is held by the authorities, rather than central Government. This information could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.
	However, local highway authorities had a duty to set up and keep a register under section 53B of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 by the 31 December 2005. We will carry out a review of the implementation of section 53B in due course.

Packaging

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which companies have been given Government grants to make their packaging more environmentally friendly; and how much each was given.

Ben Bradshaw: While the Government have not given any grants to businesses directly, the Government funded Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), set up an £8 million Waste Minimisation Innovation Fund in November 2004 to support research and development projects that focus on reducing the impact of packaging on the environment, for example, by reducing the amount of packaging that goes to landfill.
	To date 28 projects have been approved for funding and £4.1 million has been distributed. Funding has been awarded to companies such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Argos, Coca-Cola, Proctor and Gamble, Marks and Spencer, Britvic and Heinz to run.
	Trials to research new and existing opportunities for biodegradable packaging and investigate the use of re-usable packaging are currently underway. Other trials aim to minimise the amount of plastic used in containers, glass in bottles and metals in cans and to look at ways of incorporating recycled plastic into drinks containers. It has been estimated that over 500,000 tonnes of packaging could be prevented each year if the research proves successful and the initiatives are taken up across the retail sector.
	The projects are set-up in such a way to ensure that WRAP maintains all intellectual property rights on the findings, ensuring no competitive advantage is gained by participants in the scheme and that any innovations that are developed can be made available to all.
	Additionally WRAP are currently conducting a technical advice programme, looking at opportunities for so called "pack-less packaging" which, among other things, will explore the potential for refill and self-dispensing systems in the retail sector. Such initiatives could offer significant benefits in terms of packaging reduction as well as financial savings for both customers and retailers.

Recycling

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much central funding has been allocated to local authority recycling in each year for which figures are available.

Ben Bradshaw: The main source of funding for local authorities' waste management services is the Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services (EPCS) block of annual Government grant. It is for the local authorities to decide what proportion of the block is invested in waste management services, including recycling. Funding is also provided from a variety of other sources to support recycling, the amounts allocated are set out in the following table.
	
		
			   £ million 
			  2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 
		
		
			 Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund  (WMRG) 40,333,748 50,033,748 96,324,667 45,000,000 — — 
			 Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant — — — 40 105 110 
			 Grant to Relieve Spending Pressures on  Waste — — 20 — — — 
			 Household Incentives Pilots Scheme — — — 5 — — 
			
			 PFI   
			 Direct Consultancy Support — — (3)0.046 (3)0.053 — — 
			 New Technologies Support Fund — — — — — — 
		
	
	(3) As part of North London Waste Authority spanning project.
	Note:
	WMRF Figures include London allocations.

Roadside Car Sales

Si�n James: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what (a) legislation exists and (b) steps are being taken to prevent vehicles from being parked and advertised for sale in parking rest areas and waste land adjacent to A roads.

Ben Bradshaw: Section 3 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 makes it an offence to expose two or more vehicles for sale within 500m of each other on a road or roads as part of a business. This legislation was commenced in June 2005 and can be enforced by local authority officers. The penalty for this offence is a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale, currently 2,500, or liability can be discharged through the issue of a Fixed Penalty Notice of 100, from the 6 April 2006.
	The definition of a road will cover any carriageway that a person can use to get from A to B and is likely to include grass verges, waste land adjacent to roads and parking bays lining a road.

Waste

Philip Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to update the guidance on the definition of waste to reflect decisions by the European courts and national courts since the guidance was issued in 1994.

Ben Bradshaw: The definition of waste in force in the UK is that in Article 1(a) of the Waste Framework Directive (as amended). When the definition was brought into force in May 1994 guidance on its interpellation was provided in DOE Circular 11/94 (Annex 2). That guidance was provided in the absence of case law and since its publication there have been several binding judgments by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on its interpretation.
	The Department is now preparing revised guidance on the principles deriving from the ECJ's judgments with the aim of enabling our competent authorities and industry to determine with a higher degree of certainty when a substance is waste and when it has been fully recovered and ceases to be waste. We intend to engage with external stakeholders on a draft of the revised guidance before it is formally published.
	It has been necessary for the Department to concentrate its staff resources on the adoption of the legislation necessary to comply with the ECJ's adverse judgment of December 2004 on infraction proceedings against the UK on compliance the Waste Framework Directive (Case C-62/03); and the negotiations on the revised Waste Framework Directive published by the European Commission in December 2005. The former has now been addressed in the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006 No. 937) which were laid before the House on 30 March 2006. It will be necessary for the Department also to publish guidance on the 2006 regulations and as soon as this has been done resources will be allocated to the completion of the revised guidance on the interpretation of the definition of waste. Our aim, therefore, is to engage with external stakeholders on the revised guidance on the definition of waste later in the spring.

Water Company Privatisation

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what real terms funding for infrastructure each water company has made in each year since privatisation.

Elliot Morley: The Office of Water Services (Ofwat) publishes in its Financial Performance and Expenditure of the Water Companies in England and Wales each water and sewerage companies' investment to maintain its assets. This includes investment in both below ground assets such as pipes and sewers (termed as infrastructure by Ofwat) and above ground assets such as treatment works (termed as non-infrastructure by Ofwat) Determination of the amount of investment to maintain companies' assets is a matter for Ofwat. I have obtained this information and it has been placed in the Library of the House.

Water Company Privatisation

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times (a) her Department and (b) Ofwat has (i) approved and (ii) not approved increases in water rates charges in each year since privatisation.

Elliot Morley: Water companies fix their own charges within set price limits. In 1989 the Secretaries of State for the Environment and Wales set the original price limits that allowed increases in bills between 1990 and 1995. Since 1990 Ofwat has had responsibility for setting price limits in England and Wales. Ofwat has carried out three reviews of price limits and at each review has set a price limit for each company for each of the following five years. Ofwat set price limits in 1994 and 2004 that allowed increases in the two five-year periods that followed, but it set price limits at the 1999 review that required companies to reduce prices in 2000. Ofwat last set price limits in December 2004, allowing price rises for the five years 2005 to 2010.
	Ofwat has also adjusted price limits by interim determinations between price reviews.
	Determination of price limits is a matter for Ofwat. I have obtained this information and it has been placed in the Library of the House.

Capita Group

Chris Grayling: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much business her Department has placed with (a) Capita Group plc and (b) its subsidiaries in each of the last five years; what the total value is of outstanding contracts placed with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries by her Department; for which current tenders issued by her Department (i) Capita Group plc and (ii) its subsidiaries have been invited to bid; and whether (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries have seconded staff (1) temporarily and (2) on a longer-term basis to (X) her Department and (Y) its agencies.

Harriet Harman: The value of known contracts placed over the last three financial years is as follows:
	
		
			
			  (a) Capita Group plc (b) Capita subsidiaries 
		
		
			 200506 0 1,267,379 
			 200405 0 498,678 
			 200304 0 12,250 
			 200203 0 17,165 
			 200102 0 3,800 
		
	
	The value on these outstanding contracts is as follows:
	(a) Capita Group plc: 0
	(b) subsidiaries: 74,400
	There is one current tender in which a subsidiary of Capita Group plc has been invited to bidprovision of an authorised pensions administration centre for the Department.
	No staff have been seconded from Capita Group plc or its subsidiaries to my Department or its agencies, either temporarily or on a longer-term basis.
	My Department does not hold a central register of contracts. The information on known contracts with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries has been given above. However, it may not be comprehensive. This is chiefly because the Department inherited a large number of contracts at the time that HMCS was created in April 2005. The Capita Group plc has many subsidiaries, some of which have no obvious connection to the holding company and it is possible that a relevant contact may not have been identified as such. Confirming the complete list of contracts with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Capita Group

James Brokenshire: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the value of contracts held by her Department with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries was in the last three financial years.

Harriet Harman: The value of known contracts placed over the last three financial years is as follows.
	
		
			
			  (a) Capita Group plc (b) Capita subsidiaries 
		
		
			 200506 0 1,267,379 
			 200405 0 498,678 
			 200304 0 12,250 
		
	
	My Department does not hold a central register of contracts. The information on known contracts with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries has been given above. However, it may not be comprehensive. This is chiefly because the Department inherited a large number of contracts at the time that HMCS was created in April 2005. The Capita Group plc has many subsidiaries, some of which have no obvious connection to the holding company and it is possible that a relevant contact may not have been identified as such. Confirming the complete list of contracts with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Custody Deaths

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the average time between a death in custody and the (a) commencement and (b) conclusion of the coroner's inquest was in each county in each year since 1997.

Harriet Harman: The information required is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Sexual Harassment

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many cases of sexual harassment were brought in the West Midlands in which the defendant was subsequently acquitted of all charges in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by criminal justice area.

Harriet Harman: Information regarding the number of cases of sexual harassment is not specifically recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost to the Department.

Legal Aid (Recoupment)

Paul Rowen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) cases and (b) firms of solicitors are expected to be affected by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) recouping legal aid payments in financial years (i) 200506 and (ii) 200607; what average amount firms of solicitors owe; what average payment solicitors have made; and after what period of time the LSC would assess a case as being too old to merit recovery of legal aid funds.

Harriet Harman: The information requested is not available. However, firms of solicitors do have a duty to report accurately to the LSC at the end of each case so that financial matters can be settled. Additionally, the LSC runs ongoing initiatives to identify those cases which have concluded but where the solicitors have not reported this to them. There is no period of time after which the LSC would consider a case being too old to merit the recovery of legal aid funds.

Ministerial Visits

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many EU member states she has visited on official business since her appointment.

Harriet Harman: I have visited one EU member state since my appointment, which was Ireland. The Department for Constitutional Affairs Minister responsible for EU policy, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, has visited 14 EU member states. These are listed as follows:
	Austria
	Belgium
	Czech Republic
	Estonia
	Finland
	France
	Hungary
	Ireland
	Lithuania
	Luxembourg
	The Netherlands
	Poland
	Slovakia
	Sweden

Summary Trials

Lady Hermon: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what percentage of (a) trials on indictment and (b) summary trials in (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) England and Wales that collapsed did so because (A) the defendant changed his plea, (B) witnesses did not attend and (C) the defendant pleaded guilty to a lesser offence in the latest period for which figures are available.

Harriet Harman: Figures showing the number and percentage of cases listed for trial in the Crown court and magistrates courts in England and Wales where the trial cracked on the day for the reasons requested are provided in the following table. The figures cover the six-month period September 2005 to February 2006.
	
		
			  Trials on indictment (Crown court) Summary trials (magistrates court) 
		
		
			 (A) Change of plea   
			 Number cracked 4,728 16,342 
			 Percentage 64.1 49.0 
			
			 (B) Prosecution witness non-attendance 
			 Number cracked 1,257 4,772 
			 Percentage 17 14.3 
			
			 (C) Guilty plea to lesser offence 
			 Number cracked 380 2,073 
			 Percentage 5.2 6.2 
		
	
	Note:
	Percentage figure is percentage of total cracked trials.
	Relative figures for Crown trials listed in Northern Ireland in the same period are detailed in the table. This information is not collected centrally for magistrates court trials and can be provided only at disproportionate cost to the Department.
	
		
			  Trials on indictment (Crown court)(4) 
		
		
			 (A) Change of plea  
			 Number 166 
			 Percentage 31 
			   
			 (B) Prosecution witness non-attendance 
			 Number 15 
			 Percentage 3 
			   
			 (C) Guilty plea to lesser offence  
			 Number 30 
			 Percentage 6 
		
	
	(4) Total number of trials = 533.
	Note:
	Percentage figure is percentage all cases listed.

Aerotoxic Syndrome

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the Porton Down report on engine oil and Aerotoxic Syndrome affecting pilots during flight.

Derek Twigg: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has two research reports from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down on the subject of engine oil contamination of cabin air. These are:
	The toxicity of aircraft lubricant pyrolysis products related to Cabin Air Quality Incidents, by J Jenner, B Jugg, J Scawin, N Osmond and P Rice, dated December 2001, and,
	Analysis of aircraft air-conditioning duct contaminants, by J Jenner and B Muir, dated July 2003.
	These reports contributed to the CAA paper 2004/04 Cabin Air Quality which was published on the CAA's website in 2004. I am informed by the CAA that the technical content of these two reports appears in its entirety in the CAA's paper. The CAA, which has copyright, has no plans to publish these reports separately.
	In addition to these two research reports the CAA has a review document:
	A Review of Three Reports on the Toxicology of Aviation Lubricant Constituents, by J Jenner, B Jugg and J Scawin, dated May 2002
	I am informed by the CAA that this paper is a critique of other scientific work, and was prepared for CAA internal use only. The CAA has no plans to publish this paper and the Department does not have a copy of it.

Aircraft Noise

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the difference between peak and mean aircraft noise levels near British airports.

Derek Twigg: The Department has not made any specific assessment of the difference between peak and mean aircraft noise levels. This is because the suitability of what measurement is used will depend on the type of noise situation being addressed.
	The Department uses various measures of aircraft noise levels. The departure noise limits at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted relate to peak noise 1 and aircraft noise events at the fixed noise monitors (where the limits apply) are measured accordingly.
	Since 1990, the Department has used equivalent continuous noise leveleffectively an averaging out of noise energy over a given periodas the measure of average aircraft noise exposure 2 .
	Mean peak aircraft noise levels are not assessed on a routine basis but would be considered if appropriate and reported in technical studies carried out by the Environmental Research and Consultancy Department of the Civil Aviation Authority. For example, CS Report 9539 Review of the Departure Noise Limits at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports includes statistics broken showing the reference mean levels, standard deviations and other statistical information relating to the peak noise of actual flights. A copy of this report was placed in the House Library.
	1 Measured in Lmax dBA
	2 This entails the calculation of Leq, logarithmic average sound exposure levels (SEL) for each aircraft type

Airports (Alternative Fuelled Vehicles)

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps are being taken to encourage the use of alternative fuelled vehicles at airports.

Derek Twigg: The UK aviation industry has developed and published A Strategy Towards Sustainable Development of UK Aviation. This includes a commitment to deliver continued improvements in airport ground vehicles, along with improvements in supply of ground power services, operational practices and the availability of cleaner fuels. The industry is committed to reporting on progress with this commitment by the end of 2006.

Drink-driving

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many drink-driving accidents there were in (a) Romford and (b) Havering in each of the past 10 years.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is not available. Estimates of drink drive accidents in Great Britain as a whole are published each year in an article in Road Casualties Great BritainAnnual Report. Estimates below Government office region level are not available.

M6

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent (a) on planning, (b) on consulting and (c) in total on (i) improving capacity on the M6 between Birmingham and Manchester and (ii) the Midlands to Manchester multi-modal study.

Stephen Ladyman: In the period since our response to the west midlands to north west conurbations multi-modal study in December 2002, approximately 4.5 million has been spent on preliminary design work, stakeholder engagement and other planning activities on improving capacity on the M6 between Birmingham and Manchester. It is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of the total at the present time.
	The total cost of the west midlands to north west conurbations multi-modal study was 2 million. This figure includes costs relating to public consultation exercises that were undertaken as part of the study.

Public Transport

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government has taken to reduce automobile use and increase the use of public transportation.

Stephen Ladyman: The ability to travel offers real benefits, underpinning the competitiveness of the economy and helping to build an inclusive society. It is therefore the Government's policy to meet the challenges of a growing economy and the increasing demand for travel so caused while minimising the negative impacts on society and the environment.
	We are spending c. 87 million a week on the national rail networkwhich has seen reliability rise to above 85 per cent. and usage rise to a level not seen since the 1960s. We also contribute over 1 billion a year to improving London Underground services.
	Local and central Government's funding support for bus services is 1.7 billion a year and bus patronage in England has risen by nearly 8 per cent. since 200001. In addition, off-peak bus travel will be free for those aged 60 and over and for disabled people at local authority level from April this year, with a national scheme due to begin in April 2008.
	We have also made available 200 million p.a. from 200809 to 201415 within the Transport Innovation Fund to support schemes which tackle local congestion through a combination of demand management, including road pricing, and improved public transport.

Railways

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many train stations are operated (a) by each train operating company, (b) by Network Rail and (c) by other operators.

Derek Twigg: The information requested can be found in the 8th edition of Comprehensive Guide to Britain's Railways, published by Rail Magazine.

Small Firms

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what definition the Department uses of a small firm.

Derek Twigg: The Department does not provide a precise definition of a small firm in its guidance, but where appropriate, refers to the definition provided by the Small Business Service. In particular, the Department collects information about its suppliers for the Small Business Service using the following categories:
	Between 1 and 50 employees
	Between 51 and 249 employees
	250 or more employees.

Sustainable Building

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the Department's building programme budget was allocated to (a) energy self-generation and (b) water recycling measures in the last financial year.

Derek Twigg: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport is planning to build a new print site in the Swansea area. Of the 12 million build costs, 15,000 20,000 has been allocated for the inclusion of water recycling measures.
	The Department will examine what scope there is for further action in this area as part of the review of the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate and once the revised targets have been published.

British Museum

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 16 February 2006, Official Report, column 2196W, on the British Museum, what the reasons were for the changes in spending between 2001 and 2005.

David Lammy: The changes in British Museum expenditure on acquisitions in the years indicated arose as a result of donations and bequests of items and collections from third parties. These were:
	
		
			million 
			  Total value of acquisitions Of which donated/bequeathed items 
		
		
			 200001 (5)9.725 7.81 
			 200102 17.847 14.25 
			 200203 2.238 0.95 
			 200304 6.578 2.75 
			 200405 1.163 1.13 
		
	
	(5) This figure replaces the one of 9.275 million which was given in the answer of 16 February 2006.
	The major donated/bequeathed items, in terms of their valuations, were:
	200001a collection of jewellery;
	200102a collection of Nubian lithics, ceramics and burial remains, a bronze trident and image, a calligraphy collection, a collection of jewellery, a coin collection;
	200203a ceramic art collection and a collection of etchings and drawings;
	200304a collection of modern prints and drawings.
	Further descriptions of these items may be found in the British Museum Annual Reports and Annual Reviews, which are on the Museum's website: http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/corporate/index.html

Casinos

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the dates of her meetings with foreign casino operators and their representatives.

Richard Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 20 December 2005, Official Report, columns 265556W, to the hon. Member for North-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Moss). Relevant meetings were listed in the earlier reply. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no further meetings with overseas casino operators since then.

Licensing

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether it is her policy that premises granted grandfather rights under the Licensing Act 2003 should be guaranteed extended New Year's Eve opening hours notwithstanding the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2005; and if she will make a statement.

James Purnell: Those premises which, prior to 6 August 2005, applied to convert their old licence into a licence under the Licensing Act 2003, were permitted to carry over automatically such extended trading hours as were previously permitted under that licence. For those businesses and clubs engaged in the supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises, apart from those where restriction orders were in force, this included an unbroken period of up to 36-hours from 11.00am on New Year's Eve which formed part of permitted hours under the Licensing Act 1964.
	However, where applicants also sought to vary the converted hours in such a way that they did not cover the 36-hour period, they should have included any additional hours for New Year's Eve in their application.

Afghanistan

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the level of compliance of Afghan criminal law with international human rights treaties.

Douglas Alexander: We have not made an independent UK assessment. However, the Justice for All Action Plan jointly drafted by the Government of Afghanistan and the international community provides the basis on which the Afghan government will reform and strengthen the justice sector over the next 12 years. This Plan is divided into five areas of activity: law reform, institution-building, access to justice programs, traditional justice and co-ordination. The UK and the international community will continue to monitor progress in this field as the plan is put into effect.
	The UK has just contributed US $500,000 towards its implementation for financial year 200607.
	The Action Plan is available at: http://www.af/resources/aaca/cg+adf/justice_cg/LT_Gap%20(l) .pdf.

Ascension Island

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2006, Official Report, column 1892W, on Ascension Island, what the reasons were for the changes in the numbers of entry permits granted between 1999 and 2005.

Douglas Alexander: There is no annual quota for entry permits to Ascension Island. Changes in numbers, year on year, are a combination of differences in the numbers of people entering Ascension Island, more people transiting to and from the Falklands and St. Helena, different numbers of cruise ship visitors and fluctuating employment with the users.

China

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the treatment of Falun Gong members in China, with particular reference to Sujiatun Camp.

Ian Pearson: The Government have seen no evidence to substantiate the reports circulating about the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in Sujiatun camp. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied these allegations. We continue to raise our concerns about human rights abuses of Falun Gong adherents in other contexts.

Colombia

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) unilateral and (b) multilateral action the Government plan to take to encourage the Colombian Government to implement a legal framework which (i) conforms to international standards and (ii) is in line with UN recommendations.

Douglas Alexander: We have regular discussions with the Government of Colombia, both bilaterally and as part of the EU and other groupings, about these issues. We have consistently urged the Colombians to adopt a comprehensive legal framework for the process of disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration (DDK) of the illegal armed groups. In October 2005, the EU General Affairs Council concluded that the adoption by the Colombian Congress of the Justice and Peace Law was a significant development, since it provides an overall legal framework for DDK in Colombia. The Council noted that it had many concerns over the law, but it believed that if the law was effectively and transparently implemented it would make a positive contribution to the search for peace in Colombia. We will continue to work with our partners to help the Government of Colombia to address the challenges these issues present. For example, EU Missions in Bogota are currently examining their project assistance to Colombia to ensure that it complements the aim of effective and transparent implementation of the Justice and Peace Law and is consistent with UN human rights recommendations.

Diplomatic Staff (Spain)

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a) diplomatic staff and (b) locally engaged staff are based in (i) Alicante, (ii) Barcelona, (iii) Bilbao, (iv) Ibiza, (v) Las Palmas, (vi) Malaga, (vii) Palma, (viii) Seville and (ix) Tenerife.

Jack Straw: holding answer 30 March 2006
	Numbers employed at posts can fluctuate. The average number of diplomatic and locally engaged staff employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at each of the posts requested, in the current financial year is as follows:
	
		
			 Post UK based staff Locally engaged staff 
		
		
			 Alicante 0 6.3 
			 Barcelona 2 16.7 
			 Bilbao 0 6 
			 Ibiza 0 3.4 
			 Las Palmas 0 7 
			 Malaga 0 9 
			 Palma 0 7 
			 Seville 0 2 
			 Tenerife 0 5

Israel

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Israeli authorities on behalf of Ziyad Hmeidan, being held under administrative detention.

Kim Howells: We continue to monitor the situation with regard to all Palestinian prisoners held in administrative detention. We will continue to raise our concerns with the Israeli authorities. We have no plans to raise Ziyad Hmeidan's case with the Israeli authorities. Our ambassador in Tel Aviv last discussed the issue of Palestinian prisoners with the Israeli government on 22 March.
	The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) currently have access to Israeli prisons and detention centres in Israel and the West Bank. The ICRC monitors conditions in Israeli prisons on a regular basis.

Israel

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the election of the Kadima party to power in Israel.

Kim Howells: As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said
	I congratulate Ehud Olmert and the Kadima party on their election victory. Kadima's victory changes the shape of Israeli politics. It is an extraordinary personal achievement for Ehud Olmert. I look forward to meeting him soon to discuss his plans to take the peace process forward. I urge all parties to pursue a path of positive engagement as set out by the Quartet (EU, US, UN and Russia).

Jericho Prison

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received in relation to the termination of the UK mission at Jericho Prison.

Kim Howells: On 14 March, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary received representations from the Austrian Foreign Minister. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary explained that in the absence of the Palestinian Authority responding to our requests for increased security we had to withdraw our monitors to ensure their safety.

Kashmir

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the actions by Indian military personnel in Kashmir in relation to human rights of the population; and if he will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The UK continues to be concerned by credible reports of human rights abuses in Indian-administered Kashmir, including by Indian security forces. We are aware of the incident in Handwara on 22 February 2006 in which four young Kashmiris were killed, allegedly by the Indian army. We note that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on 25 February 2006 that he was grieved by the incident and at the loss in innocent lives. He also said that he had asked the army to take remedial measures so that such incidents do not recur in the future. We understand that on 1 March 2006, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced a judicial probe into the killings.
	The UK welcomes the continued reduction in hostility between Pakistan and India and applauds the two countries' shared commitment to the ongoing Composite Dialogue process, whose third round began on 17 January 2006. We remain in regular contact with both governments and we will continue to encourage India and Pakistan to continue to seek to resolve all of their outstanding issues, including over Kashmir. We believe that this process will advance the human rights situation in Indian-administered Kashmir.
	The UK deplores the continued militant violence in Indian-administered Kashmir. There can be no justification for those who seek to influence people through intimidation and brutality and we condemn all acts of violence that bring suffering to ordinary Kashmiris. We believe firmly that violence cannot bring about a solution to the Kashmir issue and we urge the militants to remove the gun from Kashmiri politics.

Landmines (Falklands)

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of whether Argentina broke the Geneva convention by laying landmines in the Falklands.

Kim Howells: Argentina did not break any of the four Geneva conventions by laying landmines in the Falkland Islands: there are no specific provisions regarding landmines in any of them.

Uganda

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the conclusions of the Commonwealth Observer Group report on the elections in Uganda on (a) the environment in which the elections were held, (b) whether there was a clear distinction between the ruling party and the state, (c) the use by the ruling party of public resources, (d) media coverage, (e) alleged harassment of the main opposition presidential candidate and (f) allegations of use by the ruling party of financial and material inducements.

Ian Pearson: On 15 March, the Commonwealth Observer Group issued its final report on the 2006 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. The report noted that the elections had generally been well administered and had enabled the will of the people to be expressed. However, the Group highlighted some serious irregularities, including the use of public resources, harassment and financial and material inducements, which meant that candidates were not competing on a level playing field.
	We, along with other donors, raised these concerns with the Ugandan government in the run-up to the elections. In particular, we called for a clear separation of the Movement Party from the State, and for a swift and transparent trial for Dr. Kizza Besigye, the main opposition leader.
	Our High Commissioner in Kampala, as chair of the local donors' group, held discussions with both the President and the main opposition party following the elections. We have called on all involved to work within the Constitution to embed pluralist democracy in Uganda.

Ukraine

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the recent election in Ukraine; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: In its statement of 27 March, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights' International Election Observation Mission in Kiev described Ukraine's parliamentary elections held on 26 March as free and fair. We agree with this assessment.
	Coming only 15 months after Ukraine's Orange Revolution, born itself out of a severely flawed presidential election this is a significant achievement. It represents a big step forward for democracy in Ukraine and the whole Commonwealth of Independent States region. It also marks an important stage in the evolution of Ukraine's relations with both the EU and NATO.
	Ukraine's politicians are currently negotiating the formation of a coalition Government. Experience elsewhere in Europe shows that this can take some time. But whatever the complexion of the new Government, the UK stands ready to work with it in support of Ukraine's political and economic reform efforts.

United States

Peter Kilfoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list his meetings with US Administration official Caleb McCarry; and what the subjects of each meeting were.

Douglas Alexander: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has never met Mr. McCarry. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials, however, met Mr. McCarry in London on 7 November 2005, when he was on his way to a conference in Brussels where he met many European partners. The discussion focussed on UK/EU policy on Cuba, including ways of encouraging a process of peaceful transition to pluralist democracy in Cuba. The difference in UK/EU and US policy was also discussed. Mr. McCarry did not meet any Ministers during his visit.
	The Government continue to meet regularly with many interlocutors on Cuba, including the US. This is in line with the EU's longstanding policy of constructive engagement in pursuit of a peaceful transition to pluralist democracy.

World Heritage Sites

David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Minister in his Department has responsibility for issues relating to World Heritage Sites.

Douglas Alexander: Lead responsibility for policy on World Heritage Sites rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport works closely with relevant Government Departments on all issues affecting World Heritage Sites. Within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office there is no Minister of State with specific responsibility for World Heritage Sites. However, my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Middle East with responsibility for the UN, Kim Howells, and my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs responsible for public diplomacy issues, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, have an interest in matters relating to World Heritage Sites.

Departmental Financial Irregularities

Anne Main: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many incidences of financial irregularities have been discovered in his Department in each year since its creation; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Incidences of financial irregularities that have been discovered each year in the Office are as follows:
	
		
			
			 Financial year Number of incidents Value 
		
		
			 200203 1 8,592 
			 200304 2 8,185 
			 200405 1 867,200 
			 200506 0 0 
		
	
	These are gross figures. Actual and likely recoveries from perpetrators are excluded.

Housing

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was spent on housing benefit for tenants in (a) council property, (b) housing association and registered social landlord property and (c) private sector housing in (i) Tameside and (ii) Stockport in each year since 2001.

James Plaskitt: The information is not available broken down in the format requested. The available information for rent rebates, council tenancies, and rent allowance, all other tenancies, is in the tables.
	
		Housing benefit expenditure in Stockport metropolitan borough council; nominal terms  million
		
			  Rent Rebates Rent Allowance 
		
		
			 200001 15.3 20.4 
			 200102 16.0 20.6 
			 200203 16.4 22.0 
		
	
	
		Housing benefit expenditure in Tameside metropolitan borough council; nominal terms   million
		
			  Rent Rebates Rent Allowance 
		
		
			 200001 2.0 42.5 
			 200102 1.8 43.8 
			 200203 2.1 47.9 
		
	
	Source:
	DWP expenditure tables derived from local authority claims for housing revenue account subsidy.

Influenza Pandemic

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much has been spent in respect of each stock transfer since 1997 on (a) set-up costs, (b) early redemption penalties, (c) debt write-off, (d) gap funding and (e) subsidy to registered social landlords, broken down by local authority.

Yvette Cooper: The following table provides figures in respect of: set up costs; the amount of local authority debt repaid by Central Government where the transfer generated a receipt insufficient to pay off the outstanding debt; and gap funding grant (this is in lieu of continued subsidy of the debt through the HRA). The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not separately log the figures in respect of early redemption penalties. Subsidy is not paid to registered social landlords as part of stock transfer.
	
		Large scale voluntary transfers since 1997  million
		
			 Local authority Date of transfer Set-up costs Overhanging debt paid Gap funding-spend up to 31 December 2005 
		
		
			 Cotswold DC 28 February 1997 2.37   
			 South Staffs C 7 March 1997 2.06   
			 Lichfield DC 19 March 1997 2.08   
			 South Oxfordshire DC 7 July 1997 3.19   
			 Eden C 22 September 1997 1.18   
			 LB Lambeth(12) Moorlands 5 January 1998 0.40   
			 LB Bexley 9 February 1998 2.19   
			 LB Bexley 9 February 1998 1.81   
			 Congleton BC 2 March 1998 2.17   
			 Oldham BC(12) Limehurst 9 March 1998 0.257   
			 Liverpool CC(12)Windermere 19 March 1998 0.197   
			 LB Merton(12) Pollards Hill 23/ March 1998 0.56   
			 LB Tower Hamlets(12) Poplar I 23 March 1998 1.26   
			 Kerrier DC 23 March 1998 1.58   
			 LB Hackney(12) Kingsmead 30 March 1998 0.39   
			 LB Brent(12) Fortunegate/Church End 30 March 1998 1.37   
			 Basildon C(12) Vange 30 March 1998 0.28   
			 West Somerset DC 30 march 1998 1.98   
			 Stoke-on-Trent CC (12) Bentilee 31 March 1998 0.65   
			 Tewksbury BC 27 April 1998 2.09   
			 Rother DC 1 May 1998 1.02   
			 LB Lambeth(12) Lansdowne Green 20 July 1998 0.25   
			 LB Tower Hamlets(12) Poplar II 7 December 1998 1.15   
			 Wurral(12) Leasowe 25 January 1999 0.45   
			 Tameside(12) West Ashton 1 February 1999 0.10   
			 West Devon BC 22 February 1999 0.4   
			 South Somerset DC 1 March 1999 5   
			 East Lindsey DC 1 March 1999 3.86   
			 Liverpool CC(12) Pinehurst 5 March 1999 0.25   
			 LB Hackney(12) Morningside 15 March 1999 0.46   
			 LB Hammersmith  Fulham(12) Old Oak 17 March 1999 0.28   
			 LB Hackney(12)Upper Clapton 22 March 1999 0.37   
			 Telford and Wrekin C 25 march 1999 4.2   
			 Worthing BC 29 March 1999 1.603   
			 Bath  North East Somerset C 29 March 1999 2.4   
			 Manchester CC(12) East Wythenshawe 29 March 1999 2.90   
			 LB Greenwich(12) Charlton Triangle 29 March 1999 0.50   
			 LB Hackney(12) Haggerston 29 March 1999 0.26   
			 Allerdale BC(12) Salterbeck 31 March 1999 0.29   
			 Preston BC(12) Avenham 14 June 1999 0.45   
			 LB Lambeth(12) Central Stockwell 5 July 1999 0.94   
			 Birmingham CC(12) Central Areas 21 June 1999 0.87   
			 LB Islington(12) Barnsbury 26 September 1999 0.246   
			 LB Islington(12) Ten Estates 26 September 1999 0.271   
			 Liverpool CC(12) Speke Garston 4 October 1999 1.87   
			 West Lindsey DC 18 October 1999 2.5   
			 LB Lambeth(12) St Martins 25 October 1999 0.61   
			 Boston BC 29 November 1999 1.6   
			 Tynedale DC 20 December 1999 2.1   
			 Newcastle under Lyme BC 31 January 2000 4.08   
			 Restormel BC 7 February 2000 1.211   
			 Manchester CC (Colshaw Farm) 14 February 2000 0.45   
			 North Devon DC 21 February 2000 2.99   
			 LB Hackney(12) Stamford Hill 6 March 2000 0.45   
			 LB Hackney(12) Pembury Estate 6 March 2000 0.5   
			 Burnley BC 8 March 2000 2.25 21  
			 Manchester CC Sale Estate 20 March 2000 0.45   
			 Weymouth and Portland C 20 March 2000 2.4   
			 Huntington DC 20 March 2000 4.4   
			 Elmbridge BC 27 March 2000 4.2   
			 Test Valley BC 27 March 2000 5.1   
			 Wyre Forest DC 27 March 2000 4.1   
			 Manchester CC Whitefield Estate 27 March 2000 0.5   
			 LB Tower Hamlets(12) THCH 27 March 2000 0.54   
			 Tameside MBC 27 March 2000 9.28   
			 LB Richmond 17 July 2000 3   
			 Coventry CC 22 September 2000 7.703 111.7  
			 Fylde BC 2 October 2000 1.06   
			 Chester CC 27 November 2000 2.33   
			 Horsham DC 11 December 2000 2.4   
			 East Northamptonshire DC 19 February 2001 0.25   
			 Torbay BC 19 February 2001 1.992   
			 Staffordshire Moorlands DC 23 February 2001 1.11   
			 Calderdale MBC 6 march 2001 3.9 64.6  
			 Chichester DC 13 March 2001 2.52   
			 Mendip DC 19 March 2001 2.13   
			 West Wiltshire DC 26 March 2001 0.95   
			 West Oxfordshire DC 26 March 2001 2.22   
			 East Staffordshire BC 26 March 2001 1.295   
			 Manchester CC Handforth Estate 26 March 2001 0.36   
			 Sunderland CC 26 March 2001 1.336   
			 Blackburn with Darwen BC 28 March 2001 3.1 78.9  
			 Shrewsbury  Atcham BC 1 October 2001 3.03   
			 Mid-Bedfordshire DC 5 November 2001 1.5   
			 Derbyshire Dales 4 March 2002 1.45   
			 Chelsmford BC 11 march 2002 3.39   
			 East Hertfordshire DC 18 March 2002 2.37   
			 Erewash BC 25 March 2002 1.59   
			 Reigate  Banstead BC 25 March 2002 2.36   
			 St Edmunsbury 24 June 2002 3   
			 Vale Royal BC 1 July 2002 1.47   
			 St Helens MBC 1 July 2002 6.48 87.2  
			 Redcar  Cleveland BC 15 July 2002 5.76 25.4  
			 Knowsley MBC 15 July 2002 5.97 126.1  
			 LB Waltham Forest 30 September 2002 0.52969   
			 County of Hertfordshire C 25 November 2002 1.95   
			 Carlisle CC 09 December 2002 8.73 18  
			 Rushcliffe BC 20 January 2003 1.6   
			 City of Bradford 24 February 2003 10.028 182.8  
			 Amber Valley BC 24 February 2003 2.3   
			 Crewe and Nantwich BC 10 March 2003 1.4   
			 Walsall MBC (majority of stock) 27 March 2003 15.2 as below  
			 Walsall MBC (tenant managed stock) 27 March 2003 2.6 108.7  
			 Craven DC 31 March 2003 2.36   
			 Forest of Dean DC 31 March 2003 1.7   
			 North Hertfordshire DC 31 March 2003 2.22   
			 Manchester CC (East Manchester) 8 September 2003 2.62   
			 Scarborough BC 15 December 2003 1.875   
			 Maidstone BC 2 February 2004 2.6   
			 Cherwell 29 March 2004 2.36   
			 Bromsgrove 29 March 2004 2.18   
			 Hartlepool 29 March 2004 2.7 65.709  
			 Liverpool (Kensington) 29 March 2004 0.36   
			 Worcester 31 March 2004 1.83 25.23  
			 South Norfolk 17 May 2004 2.5   
			 Copeland BC 7 June 2004 1.37 15.81  
			 Purbeck 28 June 2004 0.93   
			 Manchester (Woodhouse Park)(13) 4 October 2004  44  
			 Peterborough 4 October 2004 3.533   
			 Forest Heath 11 October 2004 2.438   
			 Middlesbrough 15 November 2004 9.77 138.8  
			 LB Tower Hamlets Tarling East(13) 20 December 2004  2.51  
			 Wirral 7 February 2005 5.09 111.58  
			 LB Islington Grove Estate(13) 21 December 2005  16.20  
			 Trafford 14 March 2005 5.30 30.50  
			 LB Lambeth Kennington Park** 21 March 2005  13.53  
			 LB Tower Hamlets Crossways(13) 21 March 2005  8.21  
			 North East Lincolnshire 21 March 2005 2.90 61.37 6.18 
			 Wakefield 21 March 2005 10.15 148.97  
			 LB Tower Hamlets (Mile End East)(13) 11 April 2005  27.40  
			 Manchester CC (Haughton Green) 18 April 2005 0.50 19.27  
			 LB Tower Hamlets (Leopold and Burdett West)(13) 1 August 2005  12.21 0.538 
			 LB Tower Hamlets (Sheltered)(13) 14 November 2005  6.85 0.073 
			 Islington (Ringcross)(13) 28 November 2005  5.11  
			 Preston CC(13) 28 November 2005  65.63 0.500 
			 Halton 5 December 2005 3.62 40.54  
			 Tower Hamlets (Island Homes)(13) 5 December 2005  36.20  
			  
			   299.430 1720.040 7.291 
		
	
	(12) Relates to set up costs paid as part of the Estates Renewal Challenge Fund (ERCF) programme
	(13) Local authority has not requested set up costs

Benefits

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the total processing time for each of his Department's administered benefits in (a) 2002, (b) 2003, (c) 2004, (d) 2005 and (e) the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Anne McGuire: In response to the question, processing targets and actual achievements against those targets for the Department of Work and Pensions administered benefits are listed in the following tables for Pension Service, Jobcentre Plus and Disability and Carers Service.
	Pension Service
	From 200506 performance data includes non-complex claims processed at the National Pension Centre alongside the claims processed at ordinary pension centres.
	
		
			  200203 200304 200405 200506(16) 
		
		
			 Retirement Pension/State Pension(17) ClearanceTarget 95 per cent. in 60 days (non-complex claims). A separate target for complex claims is relevant only from 200405 (Percentage) 94.7 (18)94.13 (19)95.06 (19)97.13 
			 State Pension Clearance (complex claims(20)). Target 91 per cent. in 85 days. A separate target for complex claims is relevant only from 200405 (Percentage)   87.95 90.95 
			 MIG ClearanceTarget 10 days. Due to implementation of Pension Credit end of year figures only relevant to 200203 (Days) 12.1
			 Pension Credit ClearanceTarget 10 Days. Implemented mid year in 200304 (Days)  12.31 10.3 8.63 
		
	
	(16) Year to date figure at December 2005.
	(17) Retirement pension became state pension in 200304.
	(18) Does not include National Pension Centre figures.
	(19) Includes National Pension Centre figures.
	(20) Complex claims are claims to state pension from customers who have been widowed or divorced and the spouse's national insurance contributions are taken into consideration.
	Jobcentre Plus The following tables contain annual actual average clearance (AACT) times for the three benefits administered by Jobcentre Plus going back to 2002.
	
		Actual average clearance times
		
			  19 day planning assumption 12 day planning assumption 
			  Incapacity benefit Income support Jobseeker's allowance(21) 
		
		
			 2002 16.5 10.2 10.2 
			 2003 16.0 10.3 10.8 
			 2004 17.0 10.9 12.0 
			 2005 15.4 10.9 13.7 
		
	
	(21) The JSA figures are April to March with the exception of 2005 which are December YTD.
	Disability and Carers Service The table shows targets and actual achievement.
	
		
			  Target 200203  Target 200304  Target 200405  Target 200506 YTD December 2005 
			  Average actual clearance time 200203 Average actual clearance time Average actual clearance time 200304 Average actual clearance time Average actual clearance time 200405 Average actual clearance time Average actual clearance time 200506 Average actual clearance time 
		
		
			 Disability Living Allowance 
			 New Claims (NR)43.0 42.0 42.0 39.7 39 36.2 39.0 34.5 
			 New Claims (SR) 8.0 7.0 8.0 6.1 8 5.7 8.0 5.6 
			 Renewals 32.0 28.6 32.0 28.2 32 28.2 32.0 30.7 
			 Reconsiderations 39.0 34.3 39.0 31.8 39 29.2 35.0 28.3 
			 Supersessions 49.0 44.9 48.0 41.5 48 40.0 48.0 41.7 
			 Appeals 40.0 32.1 40.0 30.0 40 30.5 37.0 30.6 
			  
			 Attendance Allowance 
			 New Claims (NR)27.0 24.2 26.0 20.8 24 18.2 22.0 17.9 
			 New Claims (SR) 8.0 5.6 8.0 4.9 8 4.5 8.0 4.5 
			 Renewals 23.0 18.5 23.0 15.5 23 15.0 23.0 15.1 
			 Reconsiderations 38.0 32.5 38.0 28.8 38 25.3 35.0 23.1 
			 Supersessions 38.0 34.7 37.0 27.9 37 24.8 37.0 25.0 
			 Appeals 40.0 31.5 40.0 27.4 40 25.8 35.0 24.2 
			  
			 Carers Allowance 
			 Claims 32.0 20.7 30.0 15.0 24 16.4 22.0 13.4 
			 Appeals 40.0 30.2 38.0 26.2 38 28.8 35.0 29.2 
		
	
	Notes:
	1.The figures are April to March with the exception of 2005 which is YTD December 2005.
	2.The special rules cover people who suffer from a progressive disease that is so severe that they are not expected to live longer than six months.
	3.Up to 200102 targets were performance indicators.
	4.From 200203 the target changed to the AACT (actual average clearance time) format.

Benefits

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent on housing benefit for tenants in (a) council property, (b) housing association property, (c) registered social landlord property and (d) private sector housing in Coventry in each of the last three years.

James Plaskitt: The information is not available broken down in the format requested. The latest available information for rent rebates, council tenancies, and rent allowance, all other tenancies, is in the tables.
	
		Housing benefit expenditure in Coventry city council:nominal terms  million
		
			  Rent Rebates Rent Allowance 
		
		
			 200001 15.0 43.6 
			 200102 0.1 60.5 
			 200203 0.1 68.1 
		
	
	Note:
	Coventry city council undertook a large-scale voluntary transfer of housing stock to the Whitefriars Housing Group on 23 September 2000.
	Source:
	DWP expenditure tables derived from local authority claims for housing revenue account subsidy.

Child Support

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what his latest estimate is of the average time it takes the Child Support Agency to bring cases from first application to assessment;
	(2)  how many and what proportion of eligible parents received their first payment from the Child Support Agency within the time limit of six weeks during the last calendar year, broken down by month.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Stephen Geraghty
	In reply to your Parliamentary Questions about enforcement activity in the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his latest estimate is of the average time it takes the Child Support Agency to bring cases from first application to assessment.
	You also asked how many and what proportion of eligible parents received their first payment from the Child Support Agency within the time limit of six weeks during the last calendar year broken down by month.
	As at the end of December, of those cases that progressed to calculation since the introduction of the new scheme, the average time from first contact to calculation was 177 days (25 weeks). Of such cases, 24 per cent. received a calculation in less that 6 weeks; 49 per cent. between 6 weeks and 6 months; 16 per cent. between 6 months and a year; and 11 per cent. took more than a year.
	It should be noted, however, that the Agency does not regard an application as being cleared once a calculation alone has been carried out, but once collection arrangements have been agreed with the non resident. Additionally, since not all Child Support Agency applications result in a calculation, an application is also defined as cleared if the case is closed, the parent with care is identified as claiming Good Cause or is subject to a Reduced Benefit Decision, or the application is identified as being a change of circumstances on an existing case as opposed to a new application.
	As of the end of December 2005, for all cases cleared since the introduction of the new scheme, the mean average time taken to process a new-scheme application from the date of first contact to clearance, as defined above, was 193 days (28 weeks). Of those cases cleared, 25 per cent. did so in less that 6 weeks; 42 per cent. between 6 weeks and 6 months; 18 per cent. between 6 months and a year; and 16 per cent. took more than a year. However, it should be noted that these figures exclude 104,000 applications that came through the Jobcentre Plus interface and have been cleared, but for which management information does not enable the age at clearance to be determined.
	The Agency does not have a time limit for the time taken for a parent with care to receive their first payment.
	Information regarding the number and percentage of cases receiving a first payment within six weeks or longer is attached.
	Once a case has received a calculation, a method of collection must be agreed with the non-resident parent and set up by the Agency which, in the cases of a Direct Debit or a Standing Order, may take a few weeks. The day on which payment is due from the non-resident parent is then specified by the Agency having taken in to account the date of any other income payable to the non-resident parent, which may result in a delay of up to 4 weeks to make payment to the Agency. The Agency then has 10 days to process the payment from the non-resident parent and make payment to the parent with care.
	Delays may occur if a non resident parent does not comply. For an employed non-resident parent the Agency can then impose a Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO). Where this occurs, the Agency must contact and liaise with the employer to set up the DEO, wait for the subsequent payment from the employer, which in itself can take over 20 days, before money is available to be paid to the parent with care.
	The elapsed times between a payment request by the Agency and actual payment by the non resident parent mean that, even when the Agency becomes more efficient at processing applications to the point of calculation, and if the non resident parent accepted financial responsibility for their children without the need for enforcement action, it is unlikely that it would be physically possible for many parents with care to receive maintenance payments within 6 weeks of their first contact with the Agency.
	I hope you find this helpful.
	
		Cases where payment has been made from the Agency to the parent with care by time elapsed since first contact with the CSA Number
		
			  Cases receiving payment in 
			 Date of intake Less than six weeks Six weeks or longer Cases where payment not yet received Total 
		
		
			 2004 
			 January (25) 6,000 1,500 8,000 
			 February (25) 5,500 1,500 7,500 
			 March (25) 7,000 2,000 9,000 
			 April (25) 5,500 1,500 7,000 
			 May (25) 6,000 1,500 7,500 
			 June (25) 6,000 1,500 7,500 
			 July (25) 5,500 1,500 7,000 
			 August (25) 5,500 1,500 7,000 
			 September (25) 5,500 1,500 7,000 
			 October (25) 5,500 1,500 7,000 
			 November (25) 5,000 1,500 6,500 
			 December (25) 4,000 1,000 5,000 
		
	
	
		Cases where payment has been made from the Agency to the parent with care by time elapsed since first contact with the CSA Percentage
		
			  Cases receiving payment in 
			 Date of intake Less than six weeks Six weeks or longer Cases where payment not yet received Total 
		
		
			 2004 
			 January 2 76 21 8,000 
			 February 3 76 21 7,500 
			 March 2 77 21 9,000 
			 April 2 78 20 7,000 
			 May 2 79 19 7,500 
			 June 2 79 19 7,500 
			 July 2 79 19 7,000 
			 August 2 78 19 7,000 
			 September 3 77 20 7,000 
			 October 3 77 19 7,000 
			 November 3 75 22 6,500 
			 December 2 77 21 5,000 
		
	
	(25) Less than 250.
	Note:
	Numbers are rounded to the nearest 500, and percentages to the nearest whole per cent. As such, components may not sum to totals.

Debt Management

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on debt management (a) consultants and (b) staff training in each quarter since Q2 2001.

James Plaskitt: The financial records for debt management as a separate entity were not available prior to the financial year commencing April 2002.
	The following table provides details of the costs of consultants working for debt management, and identifiable costs of training debt management staff.
	
		
			million 
			 Period Consultants Staff training 
		
		
			 2002   
			 AprilJune 1.714 0.341 
			 JulySeptember 0.145 0.363 
			 OctoberDecember 1.193 0.574 
			
			 2003   
			 JanuaryMarch 0.933 0.521 
			 AprilJune 0.494 0.360 
			 JulySeptember 0.006 0.637 
			 OctoberDecember 0.881 0.432 
			
			 2004   
			 JanuaryMarch 0.482 0.796 
			 AprilJune 1.785 0.463 
			 JulySeptember 1.216 0.455 
			 OctoberDecember 0.608 0.491 
			
			 2005   
			 JanuaryMarch 3.058 0.704 
			 AprilJune 1.254 0.138 
			 JulySeptember 0.427 0.372 
			 OctoberDecember 1.024 0.445 
			
			 2006   
			 JanuaryMarch n/a n/a 
		
	
	n/a = not available.

Overpayments

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has accrued in unrecovered overpayments in each quarter since Q2 2001; and what is the total level of accrued overpayments.

James Plaskitt: The details requested are in the following table.
	
		
			   million 
			  Total value of new debt 
		
		
			 200102  
			 Quarter 1 81.2 
			 Quarter 2 87.7 
			 Quarter 3 78.0 
			 Quarter 4 91.5 
			 Total new debt in year 338.4 
			 Total cumulative debt stock at 31 March 20021,240.3 
			   
			 200203  
			 Quarter 1 75.6 
			 Quarter 2 76.1 
			 Quarter 3 75.2 
			 Quarter 4 85.3 
			 Total new debt in year 312.2 
			 Total cumulative debt stock at 31 March 20031,144.7 
			   
			 200304  
			 Quarter 1 65.1 
			 Quarter 2 68.9 
			 Quarter 3 68.0 
			 Quarter 4 83.2 
			 Total new debt in year 285.2 
			 Total cumulative debt stock at 31 March 20041,156.5 
			 200405  
			 Quarter 1 65.1 
			 Quarter 2 74.4 
			 Quarter 3 80.9 
			 Quarter 4 91.5 
			 Total new debt in year 311.9 
			 Total cumulative debt stock at 31 March 20051,229.8 
			   
			 200506  
			 Quarter 1 88.5 
			 Quarter 2 53.9 
			 Quarter 3 83.5 
			 Quarter 4  
			 Total new debt in year 225.9 
			 Total cumulative debt stock at 31 December 20051,354.0

Pension Fund Trustees

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what powers (a) the prison regulator and (b) other authorities have to disqualify or penalise pension fund trustees; and in what circumstances.

Stephen Timms: The pensions regulator is the statutory body set up to regulate occupational pension schemes. It inherited a range of powers from the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA) and has additional powers to enable it to deal with trustees of occupational pension schemes who are dishonest, unscrupulous or incompetent.
	The powers available to the pensions regulator include issuing prohibition orders to prevent a person from acting as a trustee if the regulator considers that the person is not a fit and proper person to act in this capacity. The regulator is required to keep a register of all people who are prohibited from acting as a trustee.
	Section 29(1) of the Pensions Act 1995 provides the grounds for a person being disqualified from being a trustee of any trust scheme. These include conviction of any offence involving dishonesty or deception.
	The regulator can also issue suspension orders so that a trustee can be suspended where consideration is being given to proceedings against that trustee.
	Section 10 of the Pensions Act 1995 enables the regulator to impose a fine on a person where it is satisfied that by reason of any act or omission a civil penalty is appropriate.

Lip Reading

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what funding has been provided for the establishment of lip reading classes to assist those with hearing difficulties in North Yorkshire in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what funding has been provided for the establishment of lip reading classes in England in each of the last three years.

Bill Rammell: In 2004/05 the LSC funded 641,000 learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities at a cost of around 1.5 billion. Continuing investment in this provision remains a priority, which was confirmed in our 2006/07 Grant Letter to the LSC and the LSC has in turn made clear in their strategic planning guidance the priority it attaches to this provision.
	Funding is not allocated for specific courses. Colleges as independent bodies decide their provision within plans agreed with the LSC. Information about lip-reading courses is only available for further education colleges and providers from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). The most recent academic year for which this data is available is 2004/05. From this data we know that the funding associated with lip-reading courses was 110,779 in 2002/03, 175,803 in 2003/04 and 140,190 in 2004/05. The Department does not hold local funding figures for lip-reading classes. I am therefore copying this reply to Mark Haysom, the council's Chief Executive, so that he can respond in more detail to your request. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library
	Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 5 April 2006
	I write in response to your recent parliamentary question regarding funding associated with lip reading courses.
	In his response the Minister provided national figures for the funding associated with lip reading courses over the last three years. Information on local funding figures for North Yorkshire indicates that the only college in North Yorkshire where there has been funding associated with lip-reading courses is Leeds Metropolitan University with funding of 3,386 in 2003/04. Other colleges in the area offer British Sign Language and Signed Communication Skills.
	The LSC has made clear in its planning guidance to providers the priority it places on funding for learners with learning difficulties and disabilities. In addition to provision specifically for these learners the guidance also states that programmes for those that work with this group are a priority and gives sign language, lip-reading and Braille courses as examples. However, colleges as independent bodies make their own decisions on the provision they offer, taking into account LSC priorities, with the LSC agreeing the overall plan.

Parliamentary Contacts

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent discussions have taken place between Ministers and (a) the Learning and Skills Council, (b) the Sector Skills Development Agency, (c) Investors in People and (d) the Learning and Skills Development Agency on improving contacts with parliamentarians.

Bill Rammell: All four of these organisations undertake activities to ensure that they are effectively engaged with Parliament and parliamentarians. Ministers maintain regular contact with all of these bodies on a wide range of issues, and will, where necessary have discussions on how they can improve their contact with parliamentarians.
	For example, the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC) Chief Executive, Mark Haysom, has sought meetings with every English MP to discuss the LSC's work in transforming further education and its work in schools and colleges in Members' constituencies. Local LSCs are encouraged to have an open dialogue with constituency MPs of all parties in order swiftly to answer any concerns or issues that may arise. As part of its restructuring the LSC will ensure, as one of its key priorities, that local and regional staff further develop their relationships with stakeholders, including with MPs.
	Both the LSC and the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) are engaged in a number of All-Party Groups and Associate Parliamentary Groups, ensuring that MPs of all parties have the opportunity to question them and raise issues of concern. Representatives from both organisations also appeared before the Education and Skills Select Committee during their inquiry into Further Education in January.
	The annual report and accounts for all four organisations are also placed in the Libraries of the House each year.

Personalised Learning

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the planned basis is for the distribution of existing and additional funding announced in the Budget for personalised learning in 200607; whether local education authorities will decide their own local allocation scheme to schools; and whether local education authorities will be allowed to levy (a) brokerage payments and (b) service level agreement deductions from the funding they will receive.

Jacqui Smith: Funding for personalised learning will be allocated through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), the Standards Fund and School Standards Grant (SSG).
	The Government announced in November 2005 new funding for personalised learning allocated as follows:
	
		Dedicated schools grant  million
		
			  Primary schools Key Stage 3 
		
		
			 200607 100 120 
			 200708 230 335 
		
	
	This funding has been allocated to local authorities on the following basis:
	15 per cent. according to projected pupil numbers;
	35 per cent. according to projected pupil numbers, weighted by the number of children in families in receipt of income support;
	50 per cent. according to projected pupils, weighted for the proportion of pupils not achieving level 2 at KS2 (for the primary funding) or level 4 at KS3 (for the Key Stage 3 funding) in English and Maths.
	The Area Cost Adjustment (ACA), as announced in the Local Government Settlement on 5 December 2006, has been applied to all three distribution factors. Local authorities can decide how to allocate this funding to schools, in consultation with their Schools Forum. The Government expects the distribution across schools in the authority to be based on an assessment of relative need to:
	support intervention and catch-up provision for children who have fallen behind in English and maths;
	support the education of gifted and talented learners; and
	help learners from deprived backgrounds to access after school and year-round activities.
	
		Standards fund  million
		
			  Primary schools Secondary schools 
		
		
			 200607 30 30 
			 200708 30 30 
		
	
	This funding has been allocated to local authorities based on the number of schools in each local authority that have a high number of pupils behind age related expectations in English or maths. Local authorities must allocate this funding to schools facing the greatest challenges, based on an assessment of need by the National Strategy manager in each local authority.
	Further additional funding for personalised learning of 220 million in 200607, rising to 365 million in 200708, was announced in the Budget Statement on 22 March 2006. This funding will be paid to schools as an addition to their Schools Standards Grant. The funding will be allocated to schools on a per pupil basis weighted for deprivation, as measured by Free School Meal take up, and low prior attainment. The exact distribution formula will be determined in consultation with school and local government representatives.
	All of the additional funding must be fully allocated to schools on the conditions set out above. Local authorities cannot retain any of the funding or make deductions to the amounts allocated to schools.

Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the current employer contribution rates to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme are; what assumed rate of return underlies those contribution rates; and what the contribution rate would be if the assumed rate of return was in line with current redemption yield on index-linked gilts.

Maria Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Cabinet Office on 29 March 2006, Official Report, columns 103031W.

School Discipline

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many recorded incidents of antisocial behaviour in secondary schools there have been in (a) Romford, (b) Havering and (c) Greater London in each of the last 10 years.

Jacqui Smith: The requested information is not collected centrally.
	The nearest available data relate to the number of exclusions by the reason for exclusion. Information given in the table relates to 2003/04 academic yearthe first year for which reason for exclusion was collected.
	Information on exclusions during the 2004/05 academic year will be available in June 2006.
	
		Maintained secondary schools1Number and percentage of permanent and fixed period exclusions by reason of exclusion, 2003/04
		
			  Number of permanent exclusions(41)(42) Percentage of all permanent exclusions(43) Number of fixed period exclusions Percentage of all fixed period exclusions(44) 
		
		
			 Romford parliamentary constituency 
			 Physical assault against a pupil (45) (45) 69 13 
			 Physical assault against an adult (45) (45) 11 2 
			 Verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against a pupil (45) (45) 16 3 
			 Verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult 3 17 76 14 
			 Bullying 0 0 25 5 
			 Racist abuse 0 0 16 3 
			 Sexual misconduct 0 0 (45) (45) 
			 Drug and alcohol related (45) (45) 6 1 
			 Damage 0 0 19 4 
			 Theft 0 0 12 2 
			 Persistent disruptive behaviour 5 28 69 13 
			 Other 4 22 208 39 
			 Total 18 100 528 100 
			  
			 Havering local authority 
			 Physical assault against a pupil 3 9 269 18 
			 Physical assault against an adult (45) (45) 20 1 
			 Verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against a pupil (45) (45) 33 2 
			 Verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult 5 14 222 15 
			 Bullying 0 0 42 3 
			 Racist abuse 0 0 32 2 
			 Sexual misconduct 0 0 5 0 
			 Drug and alcohol related (45) (45) 31 2 
			 Damage (45) (45) 46 3 
			 Theft 0 0 36 2 
			 Persistent disruptive behaviour 9 26 142 10 
			 Other 10 29 599 41 
			 Total 35 100 1,477 100 
			  
			 London 
			 Physical assault against a pupil 269 20 7,319 23 
			 Physical assault against an adult 127 9 1,113 4 
			 Verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against a pupil 109 8 1,483 5 
			 Verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult 132 10 5,754 18 
			 Bullying 34 3 630 2 
			 Racist abuse (45) (45) 254 1 
			 Sexual misconduct 16 1 363 1 
			 Drug and alcohol related 86 6 1,004 3 
			 Damage 49 4 1,098 4 
			 Theft 54 4 1,051 3 
			 Persistent disruptive behaviour 301 22 6,256 20 
			 Other 163 12 4,930 16 
			 Total 1,343 100 31,256 100 
		
	
	(40)Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(41)There are known quality issues with exclusions data for these years. Figures shown here for Romford parliamentary constituency are as reported by schools but are unconfirmed and should be used with caution. Figures for Havering local authority and London have been checked back with authorities.
	(42)The distribution of exclusions by reason has been derived from the Termly Exclusions Survey and applied to the number of permanent exclusions as confirmed by local authorities as part of the Annual Schools Census data checking exercise.
	(43)The number of permanent exclusions by reason expressed as a percentage of the total number of permanent exclusions.
	(44)The number of permanent exclusions by reason expressed as a percentage of the total number of permanent exclusions.
	(45)1 or 2 exclusions, or a rate based on 1 or 2 exclusions.

Vocational Diplomas

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps the Government are taking to encourage students to pursue vocational diplomas.

Phil Hope: We are working with 14 to 19 partnerships around the country so that schools and colleges are in a position to offer five of the new specialised diploma courses from September 2008. We are also working with the Connexions Service so that young people have the information that they need about the new diplomas. We are planning a major communications campaign next year to coincide with the publication of the first five diplomas.
	Substantial resources are already going into initial teacher training, workforce remodelling, improved teaching practice and workforce development through mainstream schools and post-16 budgets and through our existing qualifications budgets. Money spent on workforce development to support delivery of specialised diplomas, on which we are engaging the Quality Improvement Agency and the Specialised Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), will be 5 million in 200607 and 45 million in 200708.

Burma

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether there is a licensing regime for the import of fish and seafood from Burma.

Caroline Flint: Imports of fishery products from Burma are allowed entry into the United Kingdom in accordance with European Union (EU) food hygiene legislation. A licence is not required, but all consignments must come from establishments approved to EU standards and be accompanied by officially signed public health certification. All consignments must also be presented for import at specified UK border inspection posts for mandatory checks prior to entry. Further details on the import requirements and relevant contact points can be found on the Food Standards Agency's website at:
	www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/imports/want_toimport/fish_or_shellfish/.

Dentistry

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding her Department has provided to (a) Eastern Leicester primary care trust and (b) the NHS for dental services in each year between 1997 to 2005.

Rosie Winterton: The main element of national health service dental services are the primary dental care services provided by dentists working within the general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) pilots. Gross and net expenditure on the GDS is set out in the following table. The table also includes gross expenditure on PDS pilots, but it is not possible to provide similar data for net PDS expenditure as patient charge income is not separately identified in NHS accounts. Based on estimates from Dental Practice Board payments data, we approximate that PDS expenditure in 200405 net of patient charge income was around 240 million.
	
		Expenditure on GDS and PDS, England
		
			 million 
			  Gross GDS(50) Net GDS(51) Gross PDS(52) 
		
		
			 199798 1,348 959 0 
			 199899 1,438 1,018 4 
			 19992000 1,477 1,046 13 
			 200001 1,561 1,109 22 
			 200102 1,638 1,166 36 
			 200203 1,709 1,222 41 
			 200304 1,767 1,283 48 
			 200405 1,671 1,246 (53)280 
		
	
	(50)Expenditure data for 199798 to 19992000 is based on cash data in Appropriation Accounts. Data from 200001 onwards is based on the relevant resource accounts data from health authorities and primary care trusts (PCTs). This is to reflect the change in Department accountancy practices.
	(51)Net expenditure represents the cost of the service after taking account of dental charge income collected from patients.
	(52)NHS accounts data up to 200405 do not separately identify all elements of PDS gross expenditure. See note 4 for 200405 data.
	(53)An estimate of gross PDS expenditure based on payments data obtained from the Dental Practice Board.
	The level of expenditure on hospital and community dental services is decided at local level by PCTs.
	GDS is currently a non discretionary service funded from a national budget where expenditure is mainly determined by the volume of NHS work that dentists undertake. Local budget allocations are not assigned to individual PCTs. Data on the level of expenditure within the area of the Eastern Leicester PCT, drawn from payments data obtained from the Dental Practice Board, are set out in the following table. Payment data are only attributable to individual PCT areas from 200001 onwards.
	
		GDS and PDS Dental payments within Eastern Leicester PCT  million
		
			  Gross GDS and PDS payments (54)(55)(56) Net GDS and PDS payments (57) 
		
		
			 200001 6.564 4.832 
			 200102 7.343 5.506 
			 200203 7.622 5.815 
			 200304 7.764 5.920 
			 200405 7.853 6.003 
		
	
	(54)Gross GDS payments include adult fees (including item of service and continuing care payments), child fees (including item of service and capitation payments), commitment payments and point of treatment check payment training (in 2001 only), seniority payments, maternity/paternity/adoptive leave payments, long term sick leave payments, continuing professional development allowances including travel hours, reimbursement of business rates, vocational training grants, vocational trainee salaries and National Insurance contribution costs, clinical audit convenors, clinical audit payments, clinical audit secretarial support and travel expenses. Employer's superannuation costs are excluded.
	(55)National PDS data for payments to PDS practices are available for 200405 only. This national data does not show PDS payments within Eastern Leicester PCT in 200405. However, the data cannot identify the cost of any PDS services that may be provided in Eastern Leicester PCT that are directly managed by local NHS trusts, such as certain dental access centres.
	(56)Payments are assigned to PCT areas on the basis of practice postcode data.
	(57)Net payments represent the balance of payments due after taking account of NHS dental charge income collected from patients by dental practices.

Dentistry

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dental practices in (a) Eastleigh and Test Valley South Primary Care Trust, (b) Mid-Hampshire Primary Care Trust, (c) Southampton City Primary Care Trust and (d) New Forest Primary Care Trust were accepting new NHS patients in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: Data regarding the number of dentists admitting new National Health Service patients is not available centrally. This information can be obtained from individual primary care trusts.

Dentistry

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) hospital-based orthodontic consultants and (b) orthodontic specialists there were in the NHS in England in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: The number of hospital based orthodontic consultants and orthodontic specialists in the national health service from 1997 to 2004 is shown in the following table.
	
		Hospital, public health medicine and community health services (HCHS): Hospital medical and hospital dental staff working within the orthodontics group of specialties by grade and year England at 30 September each year Numbers (headcount)
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 All grades 509 501 504 513 506 508 522 521 
			 Of which: 
			 Consultant 153 153 157 161 154 161 178 180 
			 Associate specialist 8 8 7 10 11 13 14 18 
			 Staff grade 14 10 10 14 14 9 12 18 
			 Registrar group 96 103 98 93 99 114 102 104 
			 Senior house officer 14 16 18 8 16 16 16 18 
			 House officer  1 1  
			 Clinical assistant 197 184 185 196 186 169 171 150 
			 Hospital practitioner 25 24 27 31 26 26 29 33 
			 Other hospital staff 2 2 1  
		
	
	Notes:
	 denotes zero
	Source:
	Health and Social Care Information Centre Medical and Dental Workforce Census

Energy Efficiency

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to increase energy efficiency within her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: The Department supports the Government's strategy to reduce carbon emissions and improve the energy efficiency of the Government estate. The Department has rationalised and reduced the size of its estate and by 200405 had reduced its overall energy consumption by 10 per cent., relative to 19992000.
	We have recently taken further action to conserve energy, by reducing the ambient temperature in those buildings where we have control of utilities.
	We are working with our information technology (IT) contractors to ensure that the energy used by our IT equipment is minimised.
	We intend to further reduce energy consumption with initiatives to replace ageing and energy inefficient equipment, and by implementing new working practices, and by replacing local printers with high capacity multifunction devices.
	We have recently signed up with the Carbon Trust for an energy audit of our three main buildings.

Heart Disease/Diabetes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1) what the average rate of (a) heart disease and (b) diabetes was among people of South Asian origin in the latest period for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps her Department is taking to reduce the rates of (a) diabetes and (b) heart disease in people of South Asian origin; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  what (a) funding and (b) other support she plans to provide to primary care trusts to reduce the rates of (A) heart disease and (B) diabetes among people of South Asian origin in the next three financial years.

Rosie Winterton: This data are not held centrally. However, non-departmental data suggest that United Kingdom Asians have an approximately 50 percent. higher risk of coronary heart disease 1 , with 20 per cent. diagnosed with type 2 diabetes compared to 3 per cent. of the general population 2 . South Asian men and women are more likely than the general population to have abdominal obesity (shown by a large waist circumference), which has been identified as a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes3, 4, 5.
	There is a raft of cross-Government public health measures to help prevent obesity which is a major cause of type 2 diabetes. Our White Paper, Choosing Health, sets out a range of actions to improve health and tackle the health inequalities that can lead to poor diet and ill health. Reducing obesity is one of our key priorities and work under way includes a new cross-Government obesity campaign and food labelling to help people buy healthier food and further work with industry to reduce salt, fat, sugar and portion sizes.
	The White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say, sets out a new direction for health and social care services and we are reorganising health and social care services to focus together on prevention and health promotion. For 2008, primary care trust (PCT) local delivery plans will have to include a clear strategy for the development of preventative services, including tackling health inequalities across socio-economic and ethnic minority groups requiring targeted, innovative and culturally sensitive responses.
	The White Paper also includes details of the self-assessment, Life Check, which everyone will have at key points in life. This will support individuals and communities at high risk of developing diabetes to get involved in more healthy lifestyles and environments. If the results show that a person is at risk of poor health, they will be able to talk to a health trainer about the help available from local services, specialist services, referral for further medical advice and develop a personal health plan.
	A Healthy Living digital versatile disc (DVD) was launched recently to help raise awareness of and address potential inequalities in the identification and treatment of people from the Asian population with diabetes. The collaboration, backed by the Department, Diabetes UK and South Warwickshire PCT, aims to raise awareness of the growing incidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes among the Asian population and illustrate how small changes to diet and lifestyle can have a big impact on diabetes.
	1 Petersen S, Peto V, Scarborough P, Rayner M, editors. Coronary Heart Disease Statistics2005 edition. British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group (fact sheet on the internet). Oxford c2005. (cited 3 February 2006). Available from: http://www.heartstats.org/temp/CHD_2005_Whote_spdocument.pdf
	2 Existing Clinical Indicators. Diabetes UK (GMS response on the internet). London c2005. (cited 3 February 2006). Available at: http://www.diabetes.org.uk/infocentre/state/GMS__response.doc
	3 Patel S, Bhopal R, Unwin N, White M, Alberti KGMM, Yallop J. Mismatch between perceived and actual overweight in diabetic and non-diabetic populations: a comparative study of South Asian and European women. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2001; 55;332333.
	4 Rexrode KM, Carey VJ, Hennekens CH, Walters EE, Colditz GA, Stampfer MJ et al. Abdominal adiposity and coronary heart disease in women. JAMA. 1998; 280:18438.
	5 Wang Y, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Hu FB. Comparison of abdominal adiposity and overall obesity in predicting risk of type 2 diabetes among men. Am J Clin Nutr; 81:55563.

Macfarlane Trust

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much has been paid out by the Macfarlane Trust since 1988; and what proportion of the Trust's total assets such payments comprise;
	(2)  how many haemophiliacs infected with HIV as a result of NHS blood transfusions have received payments from the Macfarlane Trust in each year since its inception in 1988; and what assessment she has made of the efficacy of the Macfarlane Trust in providing financial support in such cases;
	(3)  how many haemophiliacs infected with HIV are currently receiving payments from the Macfarlane Trust; and if she will make a statement;
	(4)  if she will make a statement on the future of the Macfarlane Trust.

Caroline Flint: The Macfarlane Trust was created in March 1988. The number of haemophiliacs infected with HIV as a result of national health service blood transfusions who have received payments from the Macfarlane Trust in each year since the trust's inception is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Year to 31 March Number of registrants 
		
		
			 1989 700 
			 1990 674 
			 1991 9,701 
			 1992 947 
			 1993 905 
			 1994 850 
			 1995 767 
			 1996 731 
			 1997 660 
			 1998 651 
			 1999 642 
			 2000 579 
			 2001 422 
			 2002 411 
			 2003 401 
			 2004 396 
			 2005 380 
		
	
	(58)Reflects increased registrations
	From its creation in March 1988 until 31 March 2005, the Macfarlane Trust paid out 38,740,399 to haemophiliacs with HIV, infected intimates and infected widows, non-infected widows, dependents, etc. Comparisons with the trust's total assets would not be meaningful, since the Department provides additional funding to the trust, as needed.
	368 haemophiliacs infected with HIV are currently receiving payments from the Macfarlane Trust.

NHS Expenditure

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what total expenditure has been on the NHS (a) after inflation, (b) after public sector inflation and (c) after NHS inflation in each year since 199798 at constant 200506 prices.

Liam Byrne: The following table shows net national health service expenditure in cash terms and converted into 200506 prices using the gross domestic product (GDP) deflator index.
	The latest available index for NHS specific inflation is 200304 so net NHS expenditure has been converted into 200304 prices.
	An index for public sector inflation is not available.
	The figures are not on a consistent basis over the years, hence comparisons cannot be readily made between some years.
	
		
			  billion 
			   Net NHS expenditure(59) Net NHS expenditure 200506 prices adjusted by GDP Net NHS expenditure 200304 prices adjusted by NHS inflation 
		
		
			 Cash(60) 
			 199798 Outturn 34.664 28.825 26.979 
			 199899 Outturn 36.608 31.231 29.603 
			 19992000 Outturn 39.881 34.692 33.737 
			  
			 Resource Budgeting Stage 1(61) 
			 19992000 Outturn 40.201 34.971 34.008 
			 200001 Outturn 43.932 38.716 38.684 
			 200102 Outturn 49.021 44.269 45.221 
			 200203 Outturn 54.042 50.353 51.600 
			  
			 Resource Budgeting Stage 2(62)(63) 
			 200304 Outturn 63.001 60.253 63.001 
			 200405 Estimated outturn 69.706 68.087  
			 200506 Plan 76.387 76.387  
			 200607 Plan 84.324 86.398  
			 200708 Plan 92.643 97.445  
		
	
	(59)Based on the GDP deflator series as at 23 December 2005.
	2Expenditure pre 19992000 is on a cash basis.
	(60)Expenditure figures from 19992000 to 200203 are on a Stage 1 Resource Budgeting basis.
	(61)Expenditure figures from 200304 to 200708 are on a Stage 2 Resource Budgeting basis.
	(62)The Resource Budgeting Stage 2 expenditure figures shown for 200405 to 200708 are consistent with the 2005 Departmental Report and Chief Executive's Report.
	Note:
	NHS inflation index is only available up to 200304.

NHS Staff

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the percentage increases in numbers of (a) nurses, (b) doctors and (c) NHS managers were in each year since 1997.

Liam Byrne: Percentage increases in number of nurses, doctors and national health service managers in each year since 1997 is shown in the following table. The number of managers increased between 2001 and 2003 with the establishment of primary care trusts to strengthen commissioning and community but these will reduce with the reconfiguration currently out to consultation.
	
		England headcount
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 All NHS staff 1,058,686 1,071,562 1,097,376 1,117,841 1,166,016 1,223,824 1,282,930 1,331,087 
			 Increase from previous year  12,876 25,814 20,465 48,175 57,808 59,106 48,157 
			 Percentage increase from previous year  1.2 2.4 1.9 4.3 5.0 4.8 3.8 
			 of which: 
			 All doctors 89,619 91,837 93,981 96,319 99,169 103,350 108,993 117,036 
			 Increase from previous year  2,218 2,144 2,338 2,850 4,181 5,643 8,043 
			 Percentage increase from previous year  2.5 2.3 2.5 3.0 4.2 5.5 7.4 
			  
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 318,856 323,457 329,637 335,952 350,381 367,520 386,359 397,515 
			 Increase from previous year  4,601 6,180 6,315 14,429 17,139 18,839 11,156 
			 Percentage increase from previous year  1.4 1.9 1.9 4.3 4.9 5.1 2.9 
			  
			 Administrative managers 22,173 22,693 24,287 25,256 27,424 32,294 35,321 37,726 
			 Increase from previous year  520 1,594 969 2,168 4,870 3,027 2,405 
			 Percentage increase from previous year  2.3 7.0 4.0 8.6 17.8 9.4 6.8

Primary Healthcare (Brentford and Isleworth)

Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action her Department has taken to improve primary healthcare services in Brentford and Isleworth constituency since 1997.

Jane Kennedy: The Government have put in place a programme of national health service investment and reform since 1997 to improve service delivery in England. There is significant evidence that these policies have yielded considerable benefits for the Brentford and Isleworth constituency. For example:
	In June 2002, 46 per cent., of patients were able to be offered an appointment with a general practitioner within two-days whereas the latest figures available show that all local patients now have this opportunity.
	In September 2001, there were 120 general medical practitioners, which excludes retainers and registrars, in the primary care trust (PCT) area. By June 2005, this had increased to 104, an increase of 17 per cent.
	As at December 2005, there are 154 general dental service (CDS) and personal dental service (PDS) dentists in the Hounslow PCT area. This is an increase of seven per cent., from December 2004 where there were 144 CDS and PDS dentists.
	Adult GDS and PDS registrations in the Hounslow PCT area have increased by approximately 7 per cent., from December 2004 to December 2005.
	Child GDS and PDS registrations in the Hounslow PCT area have increased by approximately 9 per cent, from December 2004 to December 2005.
	As at December 2005, there are 50 dental practices in the Hounslow PCT area.
	Work has already commenced on the Thelma Golding Health Centre Local Improvement Finance Trust scheme. The current buildings will be demolished and a new health centre developed which is expected to be completed January 2007.

Schizophrenia

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how her Department (a) defines and (b) categorises schizophrenia for the purposes of allocating drugs; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The Department does not allocate drugs. The international standard diagnostic classification for all general epidemiological and many health management purposes is currently the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition (ICD-10) published by the World Health Organization. ICD-10 classifies schizophrenia as a mental and behavioural disorder which is characterized in general by fundamental and characteristic distortions of thinking and perception, and effects that are inappropriate or blunted. ICD-10 is available at www.who.int/classifications/icd/en. Decisions about treatments are taken on an individual basis by the clinicians involved.

Superannuation Liability

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what total amount of employers' normal contributions accruing superannuation liability charge has been accounted for by her Department in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Liam Byrne: The amount of employers' accruing superannuation liability charges in respect of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme in the last five years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  000 
			  Amount 
		
		
			 200405(65) 14,985 
			 200304(65) 21,096 
			 200203(65) 20,022 
			 200102 21,167 
			 200001 19,782 
		
	
	(65)From 1 October 2002, new entrants have been able to opt for a partnership pension partnership account, a stakeholder arrangement with an employer contribution. Employers' contributions to partnership pension accounts are not included in the above figures.

Waiting Times

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mean waiting time was for an (a) out-patient and (b) in-patient appointment in each year since 1997; and what the mean waiting times in each category were in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Jane Kennedy: The mean and median waiting times are shown in the table.
	
		Estimated average waiting times, all specialties, 1997 to 2005, England, commissioner based
		
			  Weeks 
			 Quarter ended Mean wait Median wait 
		
		
			 Out-patients(66)   
			 June 1997 9.0 6.3 
			 March 1998 9.5 6.4 
			 March 1999 10.5 7.0 
			 March 2000 11.7 7.7 
			 March 2001 10.9 7.5 
			 March 2002 11.1 7.6 
			 March 2003 9.0 7.4 
			 March 2004 8.5 7.1 
			 March 2005 7.5 7.0 
			 December 2005 6.9 6.6 
			
			 In-patients(67)   
			 March 1997 18.1 13.2 
			 March 1998 20.0 14.9 
			 March 1999 18.6 12.9 
			 March 2000 18.7 12.9 
			 March 2001 18.1 12.6 
			 March 2002 17.4 12.7 
			 March 2003 15.6 11.9 
			 March 2004 12.4 10.2 
			 March 2005 10.6 8.5 
			 December 2005 8.8 7.6 
		
	
	(66)Average time waited from general practitioner written referral to first out-patient appointment.
	(67)Average waiting time for elective admission.
	Note:
	Commissioner based out-patient data was first collected in June 1997.
	Source:
	Department of Health forms QM08R and QF01.

Accession State Workers

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what grants have been given to local authorities to deal with matters related to accession state workers; and for what purposes the grants have been given.

Tony McNulty: Grants supported by the Home Office under the joint Treasury and Cabinet Office Invest to Save initiative that impact in whole or in part on nationals of EU accession states have been awarded to local authorities in Barnsley, Crewe and Westminster. Grants have been given for the following projects:
	Barnsley: A multi-agency project to research, formulate and implement a corporate integration strategy for refugees and migrant workers, including a new arrivals handbook and a reference guide for front line service delivery staff.
	Crewe: Support for the Changing Community in Crewe, a project that aims to co-ordinate an improved response to the needs of the migrant worker population and reduce the stress to service providers at district and county level.
	Westminster: A project that seeks to reduce the number of accession state nationals sleeping rough, to discourage individuals who are ill-prepared for economic migration and to assist them to return home and to provide economic migrants with support into employment.

Asylum/Immigration

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers left the UK in (a) January and (b) February under the pilot voluntary assisted return and reintegration programme.

Tony McNulty: In order to be eligible for return under VARRP (Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programmes) the applicant must have either a current asylum application awaiting consideration or they must be a failed asylum seeker.
	The number of people who left the UK under VARRP in January was 318 and in February 452.

Asylum/Immigration

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers, who had exhausted all appeals, absconded prior to deportation in 2005.

Tony McNulty: Information on the number of failed asylum seekers, who had exhausted all appeals, absconded prior to deportation in 2005 is not readily available. This information could only be obtained by examination of individual case files at disproportionate cost.

Bail

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of (a) male and (b) female defendants in England and Wales charged with (i) summary only (ii) triable either way and (iii) indictable only matters in the latest year for which figures are available (A) received police bail, (B) did not receive police bail but subsequently received court bail and (C) remained in custody pending resolution of their case.

Fiona Mactaggart: The table shows figures for police bail decisions in 2004 with a further breakdown of the magistrates court bail decision for those arrested and held in custody. The remand data received by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform is often incomplete and custodial remands are believed to be under-recorded. The figures are estimates for England and Wales based on those areas providing reasonably complete data. Due to the poor quality of the data we are unable to present separate figures for triable either way and indictable only offences.
	
		Persons directed to appear at magistrates courts by type of offence, how directed to appear and subsequent court bail decision, 2004
		
			 Percentage 
			  Indictable(68) Summary All offences 
			  Male Female All Male Female All Male Female All 
		
		
			 Summoned 10 12 10 73 84 75 57 69 59 
			 Arrested and bailed 73 74 73 24 15 22 36 28 35 
			 Arrested and held in custody 18 14 17 3 1 2 7 4 6 
			 Who then received the following magistrates court bail decision:  
			 Remanded in custody 5 2 4 0 0 0 1 1 1 
			 Remanded on bail(69) 7 6 7 1 0 1 3 2 2 
			 Not remanded 7 5 6 1 1 1 3 2 2 
			 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 
		
	
	(68) Including triable either way offences.
	(69) Including those remanded for part of the time in custody and part on bail.

Biometric Data

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what health and safety studies have been carried out on the long-term affects of iris scans conducted as part of biometric data collection.

Andy Burnham: It is envisaged that iris scans for the National Identity Register will be recorded on application to register and then once every 10 years as individuals renew their passport and/or identity card.
	The Identity Cards Programme has sought advice with regard to the health and safety aspects of iris scanning. This advice suggests that no long term affects arise from iris scanning as planned by the Identity Card Scheme. For instance, the amount of infrared light that iris scanners emit is very small and is of a level far smaller than many everyday appliances, such as desk lamps.
	In addition, iris cameras for consumer use require CE health and safety certification before they can be sold. Thus, such technologies are tested against agreed EU health and safety standards.
	As part of the implementation of the Identity Cards Programme, the Identity Cards Scheme will be designed to comply with all relevant health and safety standards.

Biometric Data

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to page 10, point 1.2.2.3, first bullet point of the UKPS Biometrics Enrolment Trial, what percentage of (a) all participants and (b) disabled people were (i) not very and (ii) not at all concerned about having their biometrics recorded prior to enrolment, broken down by type of biometric.

Andy Burnham: The percentage of participants who were not very or not all concerned about having their biometrics recorded prior to enrolments is shown in the following table, broken down by type of biometric.
	
		
			  Iris image Facial image Fingerprint 
		
		
			 Quota sample(70) 90 91 91 
			 Opportunistic sample(71) 87 91 90 
			 Disabled sample 84 90 89 
		
	
	(70) Representative cross-section of the UK population.
	(71) Self-selected participants

British Transport Police

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received on the possible amalgamations of the British Transport police with other forces; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: As you will be aware, the Department for Transport are currently undertaking a review of the British Transport police. As such, it would be inappropriate for me to make a statement on this matter until the review has reported its findings.

Business Crime

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to reduce crime against business in the North-East.

Hazel Blears: The Home Office has previously funded Business Crime Reduction Advisors (BCRAs) in each of the Regional Government Offices. In the North East the BCRA has been instrumental in the promotion of effective partnership working between local businesses, local authorities and local police forces. This work has led to a number of partnerships being accredited with the Safer Business Award.
	Much work has also been done to provide crime prevention advice and support for businesses in the North East, and we are grateful to organisations such as Business Link for their continued help in disseminating this information.
	In Hartlepool, the BCRA has worked closely with the town centre shopwatch partnership (Hartlepool Crime Net) to help them achieve accredited status. He has also worked with the local council, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership and police crime reduction officers on a range of issues, including the reduction of crime committed on industrial estates.

Clean Up Week

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders will be participating in 'Clean Up Week' 2006.

Fiona Mactaggart: As part of the year-round, nationwide Community Payback scheme, Clean Up Week aims to give communities a greater say in the kind of work offenders undertaking unpaid work do. Through this the objective is to increase the involvement of communities in criminal justice activities.
	As such, although Clean Up Week did not involve members of the public voting for projects in all probation areas, it is hoped that interest in Community Payback will be stimulated nationwide. And of course in all probation areas offenders will continue to do unpaid work which benefits their communities, as they do every week.
	In the eight Clean Up Week areas, projects vary in size and numbers of offenders working on them: from seven offenders for one day this week (and seven or eight every week until the project is complete) on the winning project in Warwickshire; to 90 offenders across the week on the winning project in Manchester. In Norfolk, since the projects (and votes) were spread out across the county, probation staff decided to go ahead with all five nominated projects, so approximately 250 offenders will take part.
	So across the eight probation areas taking part in Clean Up Week, around 486 offenders will be taking part in projects that were voted for by members of the public. But across the country as a whole, thousands more offenders will be doing work which has been suggested by members of local communities and which benefits them.

Clean Up Week

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the likely effects of Clean Up Week 2006 in Romford and Havering.

Fiona Mactaggart: Romford and Havering were not part of one of the Clean Up Week areas this year. The Probation Areas taking part (Avon and Somerset, Manchester, Leicestershire and Rutland, Humberside, Norfolk, South Wales, Teesside and Warwickshire) were chosen in consultation with the Communication Managers in local probation areas.
	However, in Romford and Havering offenders continue to undertake a range of unpaid work this week, as in any other. Local Probation staff estimate that around 50 offenders will attend every weekday, and up to 120 per day at weekends. These offenders will do a range of tasks which benefit the communities of Romford and Havering. During the week much of the work takes place in community centres, where offenders will help permanent staff and do repair and decorating work. Or the work will take place outside, where they will clear overgrown footpaths or clean graffiti. On housing estates they will clear communal areas. Meanwhile at weekends much of the work takes place in schools: painting, decorating and cleaning. Through this work people who have offended can pay back and provide benefits to the community.

Criminal Records

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of (a) adult males and (b) adult females in England and Wales has a criminal record.

Fiona Mactaggart: The information which has been requested is not routinely produced.
	Figures on the proportions of the population with a criminal history can be found in 'criminal careers of those born between 1953 and 1978' at:
	www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hosb401.pdf. This publication focuses on samples of those born in particular years (1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973 and 1978) to estimate the percentage of the population with a criminal history. Table 1 of the publication shows that by the age of 45, 33 per cent. of males and nine per cent. of females born in 1953 had a criminal record relating to offences on the standard list

Data Protection

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what level of security clearance is required for personnel with access to the Eurodac computer.

Tony McNulty: The Eurodac Central Unit database is accessed via the Immigration and Nationality Directorate Automated Fingerprint Identification (APIS) system. This is an accredited system ie it has been approved for use in security terms and fits with the Government secure systems, therefore personnel are required to have Basic Enhanced Checks (BC(E)) clearance to access the database.

Departmental Leave (Stress)

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been on sick leave suffering from stress in his Department in each of the last three years; and what percentage of the total staff number this represents.

Charles Clarke: The figures from the centrally managed Home Office and the Agencies, Identity and Passport Service, and the Public Sector Prison Service Agency, are in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of staff taking sick leave identified as stress(72) Percentage of staff taking sick leave identified as stress as proportion of total staff 
		
		
			 Home Office (including Immigration and Nationality Directorate) 
			 1 January 2005 to 31 December 05 620 (73)2.67 
			 1 January 2006 to 31 March 06 200 (74)0.81 
			  
			 Identity  Passport Service (formerly UKPS) 
			 1 January 2003 to 31 December 03 95 4.04 
			 1 January 2004 to 31 December 04 98 3.64 
			 1 January 2005 to 31 January 05 117 3.42 
			 1 January 2006 to 31 March 06 51 1.38 
			  
			 Public Sector Prison Service Agency(75) 
			 200304 3,977 8.4 
			 200405 3,751 7.7 
			 April 2005 to December 05 2,877 6.0 
		
	
	(72) Note on definitions. Stress as a unique category of sickness has only been recorded centrally by the Home Office since the move to the ADELPHI personnel system. For this reason precise data is unavailable for 200304.
	(73) Total staff as at 31 December, Headcount.
	(74) Total staff as at 31 March 2006, Headcount
	(75) There is no clear medical definition of stress and therefore figures for the Public Sector Prison Service include all conditions of a psychological nature, a large proportion of which will have a stress element. The figures in the table reflect the total number of staff in the Public Sector Prison Service who were absent due to psychological conditions at any time during the period. A number of absences straddle more than one period and are therefore included in the table twice.

DNA Database

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of DNA profiles held in England and Wales relate to individuals who have been (a) convicted of a recordable offence, (b) charged with a recordable offence and (c) arrested but subsequently released without being charged, broken down by ethnic origin in each case.

Andy Burnham: No information on ethnic origin, or self-identity, is available with respect to DNA records. I would refer the hon. member to the answer given on 2 March in relation to the ethnic appearance of those arrested and subsequently released without charge. Data in respect of the charge and conviction status of people represented on the national DNA database broken down by ethnic appearance is not readily available and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Drink-driving Offences

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been prosecuted for drink-driving offences in the county of Durham in the last three years.

Fiona Mactaggart: Data from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of defendants prosecuted against in Durham for drink-driving offences from 2002 to 2004 are provided in the following table.
	Data for 2005 will be available in the autumn of 2006.
	
		Defendants prosecuted at magistrates courts in Durham police force area for offences relating to drink-driving from 2002 to 2004(77)
		
			 Number 
			 Offence description 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs(78) 2 0 1 
			 Driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs (impairment) only to be used where it is unclear whether it is drink or drugssee 803/09 or 803/1 0(79) 29 26 15 
			 Driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle while having a breath, blood or urine alcohol concentration in excess of the prescribed limit(80) 917 929 994 
			 Driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle and failing to without reasonable excuse provide a specimen for a laboratory test or two specimens for analysis of breath(81) 67 78 74 
			 Being in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle while unfit to drive through drink or drugs (impairment) only to be used where it is unclear whether it is drink or drugssee 803/11 or 803/12(82) 4 8 2 
			 In charge of a motor vehicle while having a breath, blood or urine alcohol concentration in excess of the prescribed limit(83) 43 32 29 
			 In charge of a motor vehicle and failing without reasonable excuse to provide a specimen for a laboratory test or two specimens for analysis of breath(84) 2 10 11 
			 Failing without reasonable excuse to provide a specimen of breath for a preliminary test(85) 5 1 3 
			 Failing to allow specimen of blood to be subjected to laboratory test(77) 0 0 0 0 
			 Driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs (impairment) Drink(77)(78) 0 0 1 
			 Being in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle while unfit to drive through drink or drugs (impairment) Drink(77)(78) 0 0 3 
			 Being in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle while unfit to drive through drink or drugs (impairment) Drugs(77)(78) 0 0 2 
		
	
	(77) These data are provided on the principal offence basis.
	(78) Road Traffic Act 1988 S.3A added by Road Traffic Act 1991 S.3 and amended by Criminal Justice Act 2003 S.285.
	(79) Road Traffic Act 1988 S.4(1).
	(80) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 5(1)(a).
	(81) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 7(6).
	(82) Road Traffic Act 1988 S.4(2).
	(83) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 5(1)(b).
	(84) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 7(6).
	(85) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 6(6).
	(86) 0 Road Traffic Act 1988 S.7A as added by Police Reform Act 2002 S.56, S.57. Transport and Works Act 1992 S.31A as added by Police Reform Act 2002 S.58(4).
	(87)
	(88) Road Traffic Act 1988 S.4(2).
	(89) Road Traffic Act 1988 S.4{2).
	(90) Road Traffic Act 1988 S.4(2).

Drugs

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual cost of (a) a prison place and (b) a residential drug rehabilitation place was in the last period for which figures are available.

Fiona Mactaggart: holding answer 16 February 2006
	The average cost of a prison place in 200405 was 40,992. This is calculated including all expenditure incurred by HMPS divided by the number of prison places.
	The Home Office does not provide residential drug treatment places. The most recent data on charges for residential drug treatment provided by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse Bedvacs service is as follows:
	
		
			   
		
		
			 Average weekly 674.10 
			 Median weekly 449.00

Football Fans

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what support and protection his Department offers to English football fans travelling abroad.

Kim Howells: I have been asked to reply.
	We provide consular assistance to British football supporters travelling overseas for club or international fixtures. We work closely with the relevant football bodies, including fans' groups and authorities, law enforcement in the UK and overseas, to prepare an appropriate consular service for such games. The assistance we provide to British nationals who are in difficulty overseas may be found in Support for British Nationals Abroad: A Guide, which was launched by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 21 March. The Guide can be found on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website at: http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPagec=Pagecid=1100183245921.

Greater Manchester Police

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received on the financial situation of Greater Manchester police.

Hazel Blears: We received written representations from Manchester Police authority in response to the provisional police funding settlement announced on 5 December. These were fully taken into account in determining the final settlement that was agreed by the House on 6 February.
	I received public correspondence from one local MP in February about Greater Manchester's budget for 200607. I replied officials replied on 16 March to correspondence of eight March from a councillor for Oldham metropolitan borough.

Harassment Complaints

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints of (a) bullying and (b) sexual harassment have been investigated in his Department in each of the last three years; and how many complaints have been upheld.

Charles Clarke: The following table provides details about the number of complaints of (a) bullying and (b) sexual harassment that have been investigated over the last three years together with their outcomes:
	
		
			  Complaints 
		
		
			 Home Office (excluding immigration and nationality directorate 
			 2004 Bullying: no cases. 
			  Sexual harassment: one case, not upheld. 
			   
			 2005 Bullying: five cases, these are still under investigation. 
			  Sexual harassment: no cases. 
			   
			 2006 Bullying: no cases. 
			  Sexual harassment: no cases. 
			   
			 Immigration and nationality directorate 
			 2004 Comprehensive information is not available in the requested format and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost. 
			   
			 2005 Bullying: 26 cases of which four were upheld after investigation. 
			  Sexual harassment: two cases of which one was upheld after investigation. 
			   
			 2006 No cases to date. 
			   
			 Her Majesty's prison service  
			  Comprehensive information is not available in the requested format and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost. 
			   
			 Identity and Passport Services(99)  
			 April 2003 to March 2004 Two complaints were made, neither were upheld 
			 April 2004 to March 2005 14 complaints were made, four were upheld. 
			 April 2005 to March 2006 Seven complaints were made, three were upheld. 
		
	
	(99) The Identity and Passport Services do not separate complaints and the response is based on total complaints made.

Hit and Run Incidents

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hit and run incidents have led to an individual being convicted in each of the last eight years, broken down by police force area.

Hazel Blears: Information on the number of hit and run incidents that have led to court proceedings is not collected centrally. Available information taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and given in the table shows the number of offenders found guilty at all courts for the offence of 'failing to stop after an accident' under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 170 (4) from 1996 to 2003 (latest available). The data does not distinguish between those offences which resulted in injury from those which resulted in damage or both. 2004 data will be available at the end of March 2006.
	
		Offenders found guilty at all courts for accident offences(100) by police force area, England and Wales, 19962003(101)
		
			  Number of persons 
			 Forces 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Avon  Somerset 244 227 188 185 158 165 86 88 
			 Bedfordshire 30 47 59 68 72 66 64 62 
			 Cambridgeshire 53 78 76 79 71 50 58 69 
			 Cheshire 160 136 158 168 181 150 175 197 
			 Cleveland 54 62 51 48 40 35 46 45 
			 Cumbria 96 100 66 77 84 84 83 98 
			 Derbyshire 113 121 94 112 109 110 109 122 
			 Devon  Cornwall 128 157 109 106 91 118 139 154 
			 Dorset 93 112 97 71 68 80 57 87 
			 Durham 56 43 48 60 37 62 58 56 
			 Essex 205 232 248 222 274 276 295 302 
			 Gloucestershire 93 62 79 64 63 78 72 84 
			 Greater Manchester 421 444 447 469 442 470 465 423 
			 Hampshire 188 188 176 182 177 188 195 200 
			 Hertfordshire 120 126 108 101 127 108 136 144 
			 Humberside 150 141 127 113 107 146 126 150 
			 Kent 132 139 97 68 84 83 103 90 
			 Lancashire 185 154 150 132 125 135 93 135 
			 Leicestershire 122 124 95 104 94 108 79 105 
			 Lincolnshire 59 64 47 59 47 67 67 73 
			 London, City of 8 11 12 21 8 11 5 7 
			 Merseyside 144 174 163 83 120 151 130 210 
			 Metropolitan Police 663 613 584 558 455 418 432 383 
			 Norfolk 147 143 157 128 109 118 127 123 
			 Northamptonshire 91 95 84 69 53 24 12 55 
			 Northumbria 114 117 117 110 148 139 146 141 
			 North Yorkshire 126 137 113 117 85 111 108 101 
			 Nottinghamshire 144 151 165 124 142 130 127 142 
			 South Yorkshire 142 153 153 152 184 197 169 197 
			 Staffordshire 175 148 116 69 37 71 72 103 
			 Suffolk 72 96 79 65 53 88 64 81 
			 Surrey 65 56 65 134 91 104 75 84 
			 Sussex 181 187 153 147 127 96 86 103 
			 Thames Valley 243 167 135 142 114 170 174 144 
			 Warwickshire 78 57 57 64 61 61 48 55 
			 West Mercia 149 160 141 166 131 167 203 205 
			 West Midlands 471 447 462 434 418 385 406 361 
			 West Yorkshire 270 266 292 282 261 282 279 243 
			 Wiltshire 64 67 71 53 59 81 73 66 
			 Dyfed Powys 49 61 46 44 56 46 48 54 
			 Gwent 37 57 72 56 63 53 46 46 
			 North Wales 74 97 109 92 67 76 103 88 
			 South Wales 178 157 172 154 150 136 152 161 
			 Total 6,387 6,374 6,038 5,752 5,443 5,694 5,591 5,837 
		
	
	(100) Aiding, abetting, causing or permitting accident offences under the RTA88 s. 170(4).
	(101) These data are on the principal offence basis.

Identity Fraud

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what support and advice his Department offers to victims of identity fraud and theft.

Andy Burnham: The Identity Fraud Steering Committee (IFSC) was established to lead a cross public-private sector work programme to tackle identity fraud.
	The IFSC was responsible for the production of a websitewww.identitytheft.org.ukwhich explains how to keep personal information safe, how to get help if one is the victim of identity theft, and what is being done to tackle this growing crime. This information has now been put into a leaflet which I launched last year. The leaflet provides the public with a quick and easy guide on things to look out for that indicate that they may be at risk of becoming a victim of identity theft or fraud, or that they are already a victim. The leaflet has been distributed to main police stations, public libraries, Citizens Advice Bureaux, Identity and Passport Service regional offices and local DVLA offices. An online version can be found on the identity theft website. The leaflet has also been taken on and co-branded by a number of organisations such as banks and credit reference agencies who have made it available to their customers.
	More generally, the Home Office provides the voluntary organisation, Victim Support with a substantial grant to offer help to people who find themselves in the unfortunate position of being a victim of crime.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; what the operating cost of the Directorate has been for the past 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: The Government's Five Year Strategy for Immigration and Nationality (Cm 6472, February 2005) includes many initiatives which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. These include:
	Developing plans for biometrics, including biometric visas, biometric residence permits, passports and ID cards to improve security at and within our borders. In parallel with the introduction of biometric visas overseas, biometrics will be added to travel documents issued for asylum seekers.
	Project Semaphore, the working prototype for the e-borders programme, will be extended to increase the collection of passenger data up to 30 million passengers per annum. It will focus on routes of specific interest to the border control agencies in order to deliver early operational benefits in advance of e-borders during 2008.
	Continuing to work on the points-based system to ensure that the migration system works to the benefit of the UK by setting out a detailed system blueprint, changing the criteria of the highly skilled migrants programme as part of the phased implementation of the new system, and implementing a system for non-attending students.
	Fully implementing the new asylum model, expected to be achieved by the end of 2006. Improving the contact we have with asylum applicants throughout the process so that we are able to remove swiftly those whose applications fail. This will be delivered through use of new contact management technologies and linking reporting requirements to payment of support.
	Rolling out for settlement applicants who have limited formal educational opportunities specially developed language with citizenship courses, successful completion of which will enable them to qualify for settlement and ultimately citizenship without the need for a further test.
	Developing an action plan for combating human trafficking covering:
	prevention and demand reduction; investigation and prosecution of traffickers; and protection and support for victims.
	Implementing new accommodation contracts to improve cohesion in the communities to which asylum seekers are dispersed, and achieve further savings on asylum support costs.
	The published resource accounts for 200405 show net total expenditure for IND of 1690 million.

Immigration Detention (Children)

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received on the detaining of children in immigration detention centres.

Tony McNulty: Both I and my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, have recently met the Children's Commissioner. Our discussions covered a number of issues including the detention of children. In addition, I recently met representatives of Save the Children. This meeting was a follow-up to a meeting held last year to discuss the Save the Children report No Place for a Child.

Immigration Detention (Children)

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time a child was detained for immigration purposes in a detention centre was in the latest period for which figures are available.

Tony McNulty: Period statistics covering those leaving from detention during July to September 2005 has been published. Statistics on the total number of persons under 18 years of age at the time of leaving detention during this period, broken down by length of detention are published in the Quarterly Asylum bulletin. Published editions of this bulletin and other information on immigration and asylum are available on the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Immigration Detention (Children)

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the longest time a child presently detained for immigration purposes has been held; what the longest period a child has been so held since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: Management information shows that the longest length of time that a child, who is presently being detained solely under Immigration Act Powers, has been held is between four and six months.
	Information on the longest length of time since 1997, that a child, who is being detained solely under Immigration Act powers, is unavailable.
	Published statistics on the detention of minors, for both those detained as at the last Saturday of the quarter and those that have left detention over a period of time, broken down by length of detention are available on the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html. Minors are detained only in two limited circumstances: first, as part of a family group whose detention is considered appropriate; second, when unaccompanied, while alternative care arrangements are made and normally just overnight. While the detention of families with children is very regrettable, it nevertheless remains necessary in appropriate cases in order to maintain an effective immigration control and to tackle abuses of the asylum system.

Licensing Act

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the change in the levels of crime on university campuses in the UK (a) since the coming into force of the Licensing Act 2003 and (b) in each of the last 10 years.

Hazel Blears: Information on crime at university campus level is not collected centrally. The Home Office are conducting an evaluation of the impact of the Licensing Act on levels of crime and disorder in England at a national and local level. However, data relating specifically to crime on university campuses is not being collected as part of the evaluation.

Magistrates Courts

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the causes of abortive magistrate court hearings; and what steps his Department is taking to prevent them.

Harriet Harman: Her Majesty's Courts Service, together with criminal justice system (CJS) partners, monitors the performance of magistrates courts with regard to ineffective trials. The CJS has introduced the Criminal Case Management Programme to reduce abortive hearings in the courts. In addition there is a monthly analysis of performance utilising quantitative and qualitative information undertaken by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) and HMCS. These measures have tackled the root cause of the many different problems which lead to ineffective hearings such as defendants not turning up at court, witnesses being absent, the prosecution and defence not being sufficiently ready and there being insufficient court time to hear a case. Ineffective trials have reduced from 24 per cent. to 12.7 per cent. in the Crown Court and from 31 per cent. to 21.1 per cent. in the magistrates courts since 1992. The data confirms that the causes of ineffective trials have reduced significantly. In the magistrates courts ineffective trials where the defendant was absent has improved by 58 per cent. In the Crown Court ineffective trials where the defence, and the Crown Prosecution Service were not ready have improved by 73 per cent. and 63 per cent. respectively. Additionally, HMCS and other CJSs are testing new approaches to case management to further reduce the number of abortive hearings at court.

Manslaughter/Murder Convictions

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many defendants (a) were found guilty of and (b) pleaded guilty to (i) manslaughter which involved their killing another person as a result of gross negligence and (ii) murder which involved their having killed another person (A) with the intention of doing that other person serious harm and (B) with reckless indifference to whether the victim would be killed in each of the last five years for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many defendants (a) were found guilty of and (b) pleaded guilty to (i) murder which involved their having killed another person with the intention of killing that other person, (ii) complicity in or assisting a suicide, (iii) infanticide and (iv) manslaughter which involved killing another person by means of a criminal act which the defendant intended to cause some injury or realised might cause some injury in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Fiona Mactaggart: Data from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of defendants found guilty, and who pleaded guilty at all courts in England and Wales for offences relating to murder, suicide, infanticide, and manslaughter for the years 2000 to 2004, are provided in the following table.
	It is not possible to identify those (a) found guilty, and those (b) who pleaded guilty, for (i) murder which involved their having killed another person with the intention of killing that other person, (ii) murder which involved their having killed another person (A) with the intention of doing that other person serious harm, and (B) with reckless indifference to whether the victim would be killed or not, as the data is not collected at this level of detail.
	Data for 2005 will be available in the autumn of 2006.
	
		Number of defendants found guilty at all courts, and those of whom pleaded guilty, for offences relating to murder, suicide, infanticide, and manslaughter, in England and Wales, 2000 to 2004(104)
		
			 Court 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Found guilty  
			 Murder of persons aged 1 year or over. (105) 256 285 320 273 357 
			 Murder of infants under 1 year of age. (106) 5 0 4 4 4 
			 Manslaughter. (107) 238 262 299 244 265 
			 Infanticide. (108) 2 5 2 0 0 
			 Child destruction. (109) 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Causing death by dangerous driving. (110) 193 227 228 233 241 
			 Manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility. (111) 19 20 24 24 22 
			 Causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs. (112) 53 51 66 60 62 
			 Suicide (Aiding, Abetting etc.)(104) 0 2 2 4 1 2 
			   
			 Pleaded guilty  
			 Murder of persons aged 1 year or over. (105) 39 55 55 59 89 
			 Murder of infants under 1 year of age. (106) 1 0 0 1 1 
			 Manslaughter. (107) 163 188 194 157 187 
			 Infanticide. (108) 2 5 2 0 0 
			 Child destruction. (109) 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Causing death by dangerous driving. (110) 129 141 176 177 160 
			 Manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility. (111) 17 19 19 19 19 
			 Causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs. (112) 50 43 60 55 54 
			 Suicide (Aiding, Abetting etc.)(104) 0 2 2 3 1 2 
		
	
	(104) These data are provided on the principal offence basis
	(105) Common Law. Offences against the Person Act 1861 Sec 1, 9,10.
	(106) Common Law. Offences against the Person Act 1861 Sec 1, 9,10.
	(107) Common Law. Offences against the Person Act 1861 Sec 10, Sec 5, Sec 9.
	(108) Infanticide Act 1938 S1(1).
	(109) Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 Sec 1.
	(110) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 1 as amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991 Sec 1 and CJA 1993 Sec 67.
	(111) Homicide Act, 1957 Sec 2.
	(112) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 3A as added by the Road Traffic Act 1991 Sec 3 and amended by CJA 1993, Sec 67.
	(113) 0 Suicide Act 1961 Sec 2(1).

Motoring Offences

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females were convicted of driving a vehicle with defective (i) brakes, (ii) brake lights, (iii) head lights, (iv) tail lights and (v) side lights in (A) Southend, (B) Essex and (C) England and Wales in each year since 1996.

Paul Goggins: The available information taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform from 1996 to 2004 is given in the tables.
	
		Table A: Convictions at South East Essex PSA(114), by sex, 19962004
		
			 Number of offences 
			  Offence 
			  Brakes defective(115) Lighting offences(116) 
		
		
			 1996   
			 Male 14 2 
			 Female 156 11 
			
			 1997   
			 Male 8 1 
			 Female 133 17 
			
			 1998   
			 Male 9  
			 Female 146 18 
			
			 1999   
			 Male 3  
			 Female 78 17 
			
			 2000   
			 Male 2  
			 Female 112 27 
			
			 2001   
			 Male   
			 Female 94 11 
			
			 2002   
			 Male 2  
			 Female 61 6 
			
			 2003   
			 Male 2  
			 Female 32 2 
			
			 2004   
			 Male 4  
			 Female 28 3 
		
	
	(114) Data for Southend are not available but data are given for the S.E. Essex P.S.A. which covers Southend.
	(115) The lighting defect data are not available broken down to the level of detail requested. Offence under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regs. 1986 Regs. 16 and 18 and Sch 3; Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 41A as added by the Road Traffic Act 1991 s. 8.
	(116) Offence under the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989; the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 Reg. 19.
	
		Table B: Convictions at magistrates courts, by sex, Essex police force area, 19962004
		
			 Number of offences 
			  Offence 
			  Brakes defective(117) Lighting offences(118) 
		
		
			 1996   
			 Male 55 3 
			 Female 463 45 
			
			 1997   
			 Male 42 2 
			 Female 390 32 
			
			 1998   
			 Male 56 5 
			 Female 453 53 
			
			 1999   
			 Male 29 4 
			 Female 323 50 
			
			 2000   
			 Male 21 2 
			 Female 331 51 
			
			 2001   
			 Male 24 2 
			 Female 252 38 
			
			 2002   
			 Male 19 2 
			 Female 231 28 
			
			 2003   
			 Male 18  
			 Female 131 16 
			
			 2004   
			 Male 10  
			 Female 121 8 
		
	
	(117) Offence under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regs. 1986 Regs. 16 and 18 and Sch 3; Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 41A as added by the Road Traffic Act 1991 s. 8.
	(118) Offence under the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989; the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 Reg. 19.
	
		Table C: Convictions at magistrates courts, by sex, England and Wales, 19962004
		
			 Number of offences 
			  Offence 
			  Brakes defective(119) Lighting offences(120) 
		
		
			 1996   
			 Male 3,823 191 
			 Female 18,404 1,548 
			
			 1997   
			 Male 3,424 201 
			 Female 17,425 1,621 
			
			 1998   
			 Male 3,157 201 
			 Female 16,977 1,676 
			 1999   
			 Male 2,364 155 
			 Female 15,638 1,610 
			
			 2000   
			 Male 2,020 134 
			 Female 13,019 1,423 
			
			 2001   
			 Male 1,610 99 
			 Female 10,314 1,162 
			
			 2002   
			 Male 1,376 89 
			 Female 10,076 1,165 
			
			 2003   
			 Male 1,239 75 
			 Female 9,444 1,121 
			
			 2004   
			 Male 1,070 62 
			 Female 8,722 953 
		
	
	(119) Offence under the Road Vehicles(Construction and Use) Regs. 1986 Regs. 16 and 18 and Sch 3; Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 41A as added by the Road Traffic Act 1991 s. 8
	(120) Offence under the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989; the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 Reg. 19.

Murders

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been convicted of murder while on probation in each year since 1997.

Fiona Mactaggart: Data on the number of individuals that have been convicted of murder while under supervision by the Probation Service has only been collected since 1998 1 .
	The data were collected under the serious incident reporting (SIR) process and is given in the table.
	From 1 April 2004, the SIR was replaced by the serious further offence report. Between 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005, out of a total of 224 convictions, 26 were for murder.
	As these figures were collected under a different reporting system, they are not comparable.
	
		
			  Murder Total convictions 
		
		
			 1998 40 183 
			 1999 29 157 
			 2000 24 173 
			 2001 26 162 
			 2002 37 156 
			 2003 29 135 
		
	
	1 Source:
	RDS NOMS in Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004 and in Probation Statistics England and Wales 2002.

Newspaper Displays (Adult Material)

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his Department will monitor implementation levels by retail newsagents of the new code of practice published by the National Federation of Retail Newsagents relating to the display of magazines and tabloid newspapers which contain adult material.

Paul Goggins: I refer to the answer given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to the hon. member for Swansea East on 27 March 2006, Official Report, column 651 w. The National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) have agreed to issue fresh advice to newsagents which includes guidance about the sale and display of 'top shelf' adult material as well as advice about the appropriate placement and display of other publications containing some sexual material.
	This voluntary code of practice will be implemented with the agreement of its members. The NFRN will send a copy of the code to each of its members and will continue to highlight the code on an ongoing basis in its trade magazine. They have also shared the code with the Association of News Retailing and the British Retail Consortium.
	My officials, along with those from DTI and DCMS, will continue to meet with the NFRN and other retail trade associations to discuss the implementation of the guidance.

Police

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated (a) initial and (b) annual costs are of merging the Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire police forces.

Hazel Blears: Current projections of set-up costs and annual ongoing savings from restructuring is set out in the table. No ongoing costs from amalgamation are expected. Negotiations continue with the police authorities on refining the costs and savings.
	
		
			million 
			 Year Set-up costs for amalgamation Annual savings from reorganisation, net of ongoing costs 
		
		
			 0 3.2  
			 1 18.8 (0.5) 
			 2 12.2 (5.9) 
			 3 11.2 (10.7) 
			 4 1.5 (10.7) 
			 5 7.9 (15.9) 
			 6 14.7 (15.9) 
			 7 5.5 (15.9) 
			 8 2.0 (15.9) 
			 9  (15.9) 
			 10  (15.9) 
		
	
	Source:
	Home OfficeAmalgamation of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire police forces: Adjusted Financial Projections (20 March 2006).

Police

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to merge the City of London police with the Metropolitan Police Service; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: There are currently two ongoing reviews which will affect the future of the Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London police. The first is a national review of fraud by the Attorney General and the second of the role of the British Transport police, commissioned by the Department for Transport. As both reviews potentially have some impact on London, it is widely accepted that decisions affecting the London area will be made once the outcome of these two reviews is known later in the year.

Police

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in each London borough on 31 March (a) 2003 and (b) 2004; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The data for the number of police officers by London Borough Operational Command Unit (OCU) within the Metropolitan Police area as at 31 March 2003 and 2004 is provided in the table.
	The deployment of police officers to OCUs and other specialist units in the Metropolitan Police is an operational matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.
	
		Police officer strength(121) in the Metropolitan Police by Operational Command Unit, 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004
		
			 Basic Command Unit 31 March 2003 31 March 2004 
		
		
			 Barking and Dagenham 360 384 
			 Barnet 522 541 
			 Bexley 315 338 
			 Brent 619 683 
			 Bromley 417 459 
			 Camden 719 794 
			 City of Westminster 1,565 1,637 
			 Croydon 624 659 
			 Ealing 652 697 
			 Enfield 490 538 
			 Greenwich 604 583 
			 Hackney 673 766 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 513 516 
			 Haringey 633 682 
			 Harrow 302 333 
			 Havering 340 343 
			 Hillingdon 458 484 
			 Hounslow 467 472 
			 Islington 623 680 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 528 575 
			 Kingston upon Thames 272 275 
			 Lambeth 968 941 
			 Lewisham 571 625 
			 Merton 304 339 
			 Newham 692 781 
			 Redbridge 393 440 
			 Richmond upon Thames 284 285 
			 Southwark 838 869 
			 Sutton 266 280 
			 Tower Hamlets 686 760 
			 Waltham Forest 486 533 
			 Wandsworth 557 612 
		
	
	(121) Figures are based on full-time equivalent and include those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. These figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number, because of rounding there may be some discrepancy between the totals and sums of the constituent items.

Police

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many basic command units the Government plans to maintain after expected mergers and amalgamations.

Hazel Blears: The proposals for police force amalgamation are designed to make the police force structures in England and Wales fit for purpose to meet the policing challenges of the 21st century. The BCU structure within strategic forces will be a matter for the new Chief Officers.

Police

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimates he has made of (a) the set up costs, (b) the recurring annual costs and (c) the recurring savings of setting up a single police force in Wales.

Hazel Blears: The information is set out in the table.
	We will pay 100 per cent. of the reasonable set up costs of restructuring net of savings. The precise projected level of these costs and savings is a matter for negotiation.
	
		
			million 
			 Year Set-up costs for amalgamation Annual savings from reorganisation, net of ongoing costs 
		
		
			 0 0.4  
			 1 16.1  
			 2 9.4 (1.8) 
			 3 5.6 (4.4) 
			 4 2.1 (10.0) 
			 5 1.7 (15.7) 
			 6  (15.7) 
			 7  (15.7) 
			 8  (15.7) 
			 9  (15.7) 
			 10  (15.7) 
		
	
	Note:
	Additional costs of Protective Services, estimated at around 10 million in a full year, are expected to be met from annual savings.

Police

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the cost of the proposed police restructuring in Wales will be met by (a) his Department and (b) existing police authorities.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 21 March 2006
	The estimated set up cost of a strategic police force for Wales is 35 million. Long-term savings made possible by the merger are currently estimated at 16 million a year.
	We will pay 100 per cent. of the reasonable net set up revenue and capital costs, net of reasonable savings. The precise level of these costs is a matter for negotiation, currently taking place.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inmates at each prison establishment have left prison without accommodation in each of the last 10 years.

Fiona Mactaggart: Data on the accommodation status of offenders at discharge from prison has only been recorded since April 2003. Information prior to 2003 would be at a disproportionate cost to collate.
	In April 2003 the prison service introduced a shadow key performance indicator (KPI) on accommodation to improve on the number of offenders leaving prison without accommodation to go to, and to have access to appropriate housing advice whilst in custody. Since the introduction of the shadow KPI which became a full KPI in April 2005, the percentage of released prisoners without accommodation to go to has fallen from 46 per cent. in 200304 to 13 per cent. for 200506 year-to-date.
	A copy of the table will be placed in the House Library.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the work of the Professional Standards Unit in the Prison Service.

Fiona Mactaggart: The Prison Service's Professional Standards Unit (PSU) was established in February 2003 to implement its anti-corruption strategy. Its role is to receive, develop and analyse intelligence on corruption. It maintains a database to monitor the scale of corruption and to identify trends so that preventative and remedial action can be taken. PSU monitors the progress of investigations, maintains a register of trained investigators and provides advice and statistical reports to the Service. PSU currently employs 12 members of staff. A review of the Service's professional standards strategy was completed in December 2005 and is under consideration.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the compulsory transfer of staff in the Prison Service.

Fiona Mactaggart: When staff transfer to a new employer, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, are applicable to the Prison Service. In addition, the public sector Prison Service complies fully with the policies that currently apply to central Government and agencies, including the Cabinet Office statement of Practice, Staff transfers in the Public Sector and its annex A Fair deal for Staff Pensions.
	Compulsory transfers within the public sector Prison Service are managed in accordance with standard Prison Service conditions of employment.

Prisons

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been released early from prison under the home detention curfew since the introduction of the scheme, broken down by offence for which originally imprisoned.

Fiona Mactaggart: The requested information is in the table, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system.
	
		HOC discharges(122) by offence group(123) (28 January 199931 January 2006) England and Wales
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Total 123,542 
			 Violence against the person 22,250 
			 Sexual offences 83 
			 Burglary 11,029 
			 Robbery 6,002 
			 Theft and handling 16,312 
			 Fraud and forgery 8,740 
			 Drugs offences 17,682 
			 Motoring offences 20,123 
			 Other 21,321 
		
	
	(122) These statistics are based on information recorded on the central Prison Service IT system at the beginning of March 2006. Further updates and amendments may be made to records on this system in future resulting in revised figures.
	(123) Offence recorded on Prison Service IT system.
	Investigations suggest that around 5 per cent. of offence types recorded on this system do not relate to the offence for which they were released on HOC but relate to offences committed after release from prison and before the licence expiry date for their sentence. Of the 83 discharges for sex offences shown in the table, only 64 were serving a sentence for a sex offence at their time of release. The last offender to be released on HOC while serving a sentence for a sex offence was released in January 2004.
	(124) Includes the offence of bigamy.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what average time was spent by prisoners on remand at each prison in each year since 1997.

Fiona Mactaggart: Information on the estimated average time spent on remand in each year since 1997 is given in the table 1. Providing average time spent on remand for each prison is not possible without disproportionate cost. Information on the numbers of prisoners held within prison establishments since 1997 is in table 2.
	
		Table 1: Average time in days spent on remand for each year since 1997(125)
		
			  Days 
		
		
			 1997 59 
			 1998 56 
			 1999 54 
			 2000 51 
			 2001 50 
			 2002 51 
			 2003 52 
			 2004 53 
		
	
	(125) Average time spent on remand is calculated by dividing the average annual remand population by number of receptions *365.25. 2005 data is awaited
	
		Table 2: Average number of prisoners by prison establishment, held on remand each year since 1997. (Calculated as an average of the 12 month January-December totals)
		
			 Prison Establishment 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 
		
		
			 Altcourse 15 358 358 301 255 302 262 250 272 
			 Ashfield 0 0 14 114 112 65 68 46 55 
			 Bedford 159 177 182 181 171 179 211 212 180 
			 Belmarsh 358 339 325 356 436 454 462 475 446 
			 Birmingham 295 291 319 342 393 505 526 513 516 
			 Blakenhurst 318 340 345 305 298 358 357 332 387 
			 Brinsford 263 269 287 240 207 218 214 215 232 
			 Bristol 289 307 288 218 247 291 275 268 248 
			 Brixton 307 323 344 352 382 416 441 493 418 
			 Brockhill 41 65 86 79 72 91 83 76 71 
			 Bronzefield 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 84 230 
			 Bullingdon 141 120 137 145 149 187 184 177 219 
			 Camp Hill 10 13 11 3 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Canterbury 171 166 155 154 140 120 16 0 0 
			 Cardiff 276 210 207 184 182 215 209 212 217 
			 Castington   80 71 72 92 79 100 111 
			 Chelmsford 270 291 221 169 189 236 246 250 245 
			 Doncaster 602 571 568 506 380 444 427 357 330 
			 Dorchester 140 129 119 107 92 87 80 78 106 
			 Downview 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 
			 Durham 339 346 336 311 286 273 285 291 291 
			 Eastwood Park 60 83 100 88 124 157 139 126 96 
			 Edmunds Hill 0 0 0 0 0 0 81 78 0 
			 Elmley 170 168 161 135 133 199 297 281 336 
			 Exeter 263 256 240 174 184 240 225 221 222 
			 Feltham 415 439 412 412 393 412 398 449 430 
			 Forest Bank 0 0 0 218 237 275 254 338 346 
			 Foston Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 23 
			 Frankland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 
			 Full Sutton 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Glen Parva 359 337 331 270 239 229 210 198 211 
			 Gloucester 168 168 173 125 115 126 119 133 122 
			 Highdown 206 248 215 198 240 319 296 273 308 
			 Highpoint 0 0 0 12 29 49 33 0 0 
			 Hindley 256 211 199 42 13 41 36 38 35 
			 Holloway 279 306 271 263 283 310 326 263 215 
			 Holme House 183 187 220 193 188 234 245 190 178 
			 Hull 187 174 187 146 137 230 311 281 277 
			 Lancaster Farms 149 100 111 96 104 147 156 132 112 
			 Leeds 530 522 528 384 326 361 391 353 337 
			 Leicester 225 241 237 227 156 182 171 194 187 
			 Lewes 207 216 210 205 209 184 210 181 194 
			 Lincoln 218 130 134 140 124 157 153 148 149 
			 Liverpool 429 257 245 224 190 239 262 258 261 
			 Low Newton 176 173 50 55 56 61 55 46 52 
			 Manchester 606 617 609 396 354 361 376 338 341 
			 New Hall 81 102 110 93 105 136 138 124 89 
			 Northallerton 121 119 166 125 108 37 0 0 0 
			 Norwich 193 187 194 154 153 171 174 172 206 
			 Nottingham 58 175 205 158 221 271 299 237 260 
			 Onley 0 0 0 29 52 46 45 4 0 
			 Parc 16 155 189 135 139 154 129 115 88 
			 Parkhurst 4 1 1 6 6 10 10 15 17 
			 Pentonville 369 391 435 430 479 619 638 561 655 
			 Peterborough 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 143 
			 Preston 332 354 330 264 262 260 253 252 249 
			 Reading 161 150 138 125 102 109 102 89 107 
			 Risley 102 118 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Rochester 70 64 69 51 26 0 0 0 0 
			 Shrewsbury 127 134 128 102 112 134 143 112 107 
			 Stoke Heath42 37 36 30 54 48 
			 Styal 2 1 95 108 102 137 140 118 117 
			 Swansea 198 147 145 117 107 141 131 117 119 
			 The Wolds 93 108 113 88 96 65 0 0 0 
			 Wandsworth 195 274 347 308 339 414 512 481 524 
			 Warren Hill 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 24 34 
			 Wetherby 0 0 0 1 53 56 60 58 51 
			 Winchester 228 246 223 217 188 193 227 222 232 
			 Woodhill 288 295 308 282 293 308 320 349 350 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 384 372 240 273 377 363 373 397 457 
			 Police cells 0 0 0 0 0 58 0 0 0 
			 Total(126) 2,130 2,567 2,520 1,1275 1,237 12,792 12,923 12,485 12,896 
		
	
	(126) Components may not add to totals because they have been rounded independently

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Prison Service Plus two programme.

Fiona Mactaggart: Prison Service Plus two is a 60 million project being delivered in 39 prisons. The project is jointly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and is the largest ESF funded project of its type in Europe. PS Plus two works with remand or sentenced prisoner who are eligible to work in the UK.
	It aims to remove the barriers to employment and, by individually managing and motivating offenders in a range of areas, to increase their employability. In total 48,000 offenders in 39 prison establishments across England will benefit from the PS Plus two programme, which started in September 2004 and will run until December 2006.
	The project focuses on providing appropriate support to individuals, and for those offenders who are unclear about their best route into employment, the provision of Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) by appropriately qualified providers. Each of the 39 prisons has a dedicated team of workers to provide support that leads to appropriate education, training and employment (ETE) brokerage. As well as employment brokerage and careers advice, beneficiaries also receive advice and support on accommodation.
	The level of support is determined by the Community Integration Plan (CIP) which is produced by each individual's case manager. PS Plus has recently secured additional funding from ESF to continue work until June 2008. The project (PS Plus 3) will work in 16 prisons and 16 probation areas, building on the Through The Gate pilot.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average weekly number of (a) receptions and (b) discharges at each prison was in each year since 1992; what assessment he has made of the impact of prison overcrowding on this number; and if he will make a statement.

Fiona Mactaggart: The average weekly number of receptions at each prison (both for sentenced and for remand prisoners) in each year between 2000 and 2004 is provided in the tables below. Comprehensive information for receptions by establishment prior to 2000, and generally for discharges by establishment is not centrally available.
	The National Offender Management Service keeps the impact of population pressuresincluding overcrowding 1 on prisoners in all prisonsunder careful review. The current target for overcrowding is 24 per cent. for public sector prisons and 34.5 per cent. for contracted prisons. At the end of February the year to date rate of overcrowding was 23.7 per cent. for public sector establishments and 25.1 per cent. for contracted establishments.
	In doing so, it seeks to make maximum use of all available space within the prison estate through the movement of prisoners to other prisons as soon as they are considered suitable following sentencing and categorization and which provide the degree of security they require, are suitable to their gender, age and legal status, provide facilities appropriate to their needs and are near to their homes.
	1 Defined as prisoners held in accommodation intended for fewer persons.
	
		Average weekly remand receptions (127) by establishment (128)
		
			  2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 All 1,563 1,590 1,760 1,754 1,644 
			 Unknown prison 14 15 17 18 19 
			 Altcourse 43 38 45 40 38 
			 Ashfield 19 21 11 9 7 
			 Belmarsh 28 33 37 36 37 
			 Bedford 23 23 21 29 27 
			 Brockhill 14 14 17 20 16 
			 Bristol 33 34 38 34 31 
			 Birmingham 49 54 58 61 62 
			 Bullingdon 18 20 26 27 22 
			 Brinsford 40 38 34 33 32 
			 Blakenhurst 38 43 44 43 42 
			 Brixton 47 48 50 38 34 
			 Bronzefield (129) (129) (129) (129) 13 
			 Chelmsford 25 26 31 28 28 
			 Cardiff 28 29 32 31 33 
			 Camp Hill (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Castington 14 14 18 15 18 
			 Canterbury 18 17 16 3 0 
			 Durham 39 40 37 37 33 
			 Doncaster 69 52 60 59 51 
			 Dorchester 17 15 15 16 14 
			 Eastwood Park 17 23 27 24 18 
			 Exeter 26 27 34 30 29 
			 Elmley 16 17 25 39 33 
			 Forest Bank 28 31 36 34 48 
			 Foston Hall (129) (129) (129) (129) 1 
			 Frankland (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Feltham 64 58 59 55 55 
			 Full Sutton (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Gloucester 15 16 20 23 22 
			 Glen Parva 37 32 33 30 28 
			 Hollesley Bay (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Huntercombe (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Holme House 24 25 37 40 30 
			 Hindley 7 3 7 8 8 
			 Hull 23 22 33 41 39 
			 Highdown 24 28 36 38 38 
			 Highpoint South 3 5 7 3 (129) 
			 Holloway 40 41 51 57 42 
			 Leicester 29 22 26 30 28 
			 Leeds 50 48 50 50 46 
			 Lancaster Farms 16 16 25 25 19 
			 Lincoln 18 19 25 24 24 
			 Long Lartin (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Low Newton 11 12 13 12 9 
			 Liverpool 32 31 40 41 37 
			 Lewes 25 25 22 21 22 
			 Moorland (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Manchester 50 43 43 46 39 
			 New Hall 18 20 25 6 9 
			 Nottingham 18 28 33 26 23 
			 Horthallerton 21 20 7 33 29 
			 Norwich 23 21 23 (129) (129) 
			 Onley 4 12 10 24 23 
			 Portland (129) (129) (129) 10 2 
			 Parkhurst 1 1 1 1 2 
			 Preston 35 34 33 33 28 
			 Parc 12 15 19 20 19 
			 Pentonville 68 69 83 84 75 
			 Rochester 8 5 (129) (129) (129) 
			 Reading 18 16 16 14 13 
			 Risley (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Stoke Heath 7 9 9 7 12 
			 Styal 22 22 27 24 22 
			 Swansea 19 16 19 19 18 
			 Shrewsbury 17 18 22 26 18 
			 Winchester 24 22 23 23 25 
			 Wakefield (129) (129) (129) (129) (129) 
			 Woodhill 33 35 37 35 37 
			 Warren Hill (129) (129) (129) 1 5 
			 Wolds 16 16 9 (129) (129) 
			 Wormwood Scrub 35 42 45 47 51 
			 Wandswort 37 40 49 58 51 
			 Wetherby (129) 12 13 13 13 
		
	
	(127) Only first remand and first sentenced receptions are shown. Receptions as a result of movement between prisons are excluded.
	(128) Only prisons that receive prisoners on remand are shown in this list.
	(129) Fewer than 26 receptions in the year.
	
		Average weekly sentenced receptions (130) by establishment
		
			  2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 All 1,801 1,769 1,823 1,798 1,830 
			 Unknown prison 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Altcourse 43 38 39 38 38 
			 Askham Grange (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Acklington (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Albany (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Ashfield 13 15 15 14 13 
			 Ashwell (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Aylesbury (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Belmarsh 35 36 39 36 37 
			 Buckley Hall (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Blundeston (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Bedford 29 28 26 31 31 
			 Brockhill 16 15 16 18 16 
			 Bristol 31 33 32 34 33 
			 Birmingham 48 52 60 61 67 
			 Bullingdon 19 20 25 23 25 
			 Brinsford 30 29 28 25 27 
			 Blakenhurst 46 49 48 57 59 
			 Bullwood Hall 1 1 1 1 2 
			 Brixton 51 47 48 42 40 
			 Bronzefield (131) (131) (131) (131) 13 
			 Chelmsford 37 39 44 41 44 
			 Cardiff 38 36 35 31 37 
			 Camp Hill 1 (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Cookham Wood (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Castington 12 16 18 18 17 
			 Channings Wood (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Canterbury 17 17 16 3 (131) 
			 Dartmoor (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Dovegate (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Drake Hall (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Durham 43 44 39 37 36 
			 Doncaster 70 64 68 66 60 
			 Dorchester 24 19 18 18 17 
			 Deerbolt (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Dover (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Downview (131) (131) 1 (131) (131) 
			 Eriestoke (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Standford Hill (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 East Sutton Park (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Everthorpe (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Eastwood Park 20 21 22 20 20 
			 Exeter 35 35 36 37 38 
			 Elmley 20 19 26 41 38 
			 Forest Bank 39 41 48 44 39 
			 Ford (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Foston Hall (131) (131) (131) (131) 1 
			 Frankland (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Feltham 46 33 34 32 31 
			 Full Sutton (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Featherstone (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Garth (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Gloucester 29 23 17 19 21 
			 Guys Marsh (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Grendon/Spring Hill (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Glen Parva 36 35 34 30 31 
			 Hollesley Bay 3 9 7 3 0 
			 Huntercombe 9 15 14 13 14 
			 Moorland Open (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Hewell Grange (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Holme House 26 27 31 30 29 
			 Hindley 4 (132) 7 9 8 
			 Hull 24 24 33 45 44 
			 Highdown 26 28 35 34 38 
			 Highpoint South 4 7 9 4 (131) 
			 Haslar (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Haverigg (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Holloway 36 38 39 43 36 
			 Kirkham 1 1 1 (131) (131) 
			 Lancaster (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Leicester 35 26 26 26 28 
			 Leeds 74 72 71 66 70 
			 Lancaster Farms 24 24 29 28 41 
			 Lowdham Grange (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Lindholme (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Lincoln 21 22 22 21 23 
			 Long Lartin (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Latchmere House (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Low Newton 10 10 10 9 8 
			 Liverpool 44 41 47 43 48 
			 Littlehey (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Lewes 27 29 24 20 22 
			 Leyhill (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Moorland (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Morton Hall (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Manchester 63 57 54 55 46 
			 Maidstone (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Edmunds Hill (131) (131) (131) 7 12 
			 Mount (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 New Hall 22 24 25 26 25 
			 Nottingham 32 39 38 43 38 
			 Northallerton 19 19 6 (131) (131) 
			 North Sea Camp (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Norwich 34 30 31 33 37 
			 Onley 8 8 10 8 1 
			 Portland 6 6 (131) (131) (131) 
			 Parkhurst (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Preston 42 39 41 40 35 
			 Parc 17 23 23 21 25 
			 Pentonville 51 49 58 60 61 
			 Rochester 6 5 1 (131) 1 
			 Reading 18 18 17 15 15 
			 Ranby (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Risley 2 (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Send (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Stafford (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Stoke Heath 25 25 20 15 18 
			 Shepton Mallet (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Stocken (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Swaleside (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Swinfen Hall (131) (131) (131) (131) 27 
			 Styal 27 25 26 24 18 
			 Sudbury (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Swansea 18 15 17 17 (131) 
			 Shrewbury 22 21 25 30 23 
			 Thorncross (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Usk (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Verne (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Weare (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Wellingborough (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Winchester 34 33 32 32 37 
			 Wakefield (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Wealstun (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Woodhill 45 44 46 40 45 
			 Warren Hill (131) (131) (131) 5 8 
			 Wayland (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Wymott (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Werrington 5 7 6 5 6 
			 Wolds 20 18 9 (131) (131) 
			 Whitemoor (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 31 33 41 42 45 
			 Whatton (131) (131) (131) (131) (131) 
			 Wandsworth 39 36 43 47 50 
			 Wetherby 14 13 13 14 13 
		
	
	(130) Only first remand and first sentenced receptions are shown. Receptions as a result of movement between prisons are excluded.
	(131) Fewer than 26 receptions in the year.

Probation Service

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding the Probation Service received in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Fiona Mactaggart: Funding provided to the probation service is as follows:
	
		
			million 
			  Resource Capital 
		
		
			 200102 595 34 
			 200203 645 40 
			 200304 (132)819 33 
			 200405 (133)872 29 
			 200506 (134)794 (135)6 
		
	
	(132) Includes 77 million electronic monitoring.
	(133) Includes 79 million electronic monitoring.
	(134) After transfer of certain functions to NOMS HQ (including electronic monitoring).
	(135) After transfer of estates function to NOMS HQ.
	After adjusting for organisational changes affecting the scope of the probation service, accounting changes and inflation, the real terms increase in resource budget from 200102 to 200506 was 29 per cent.

Probation Service

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many additional probation staff will be recruited (a) during the financial year 200607 and (b) in each of the following five financial years to deal with the impact of Custody Plus on caseloads.

Fiona Mactaggart: The number of probation staff expressed as full time equivalents increased from 13,968 in 1997 to 20,138 at the end of September 2005. This is a very significant increase.
	To meet the resource needs of the new sentencing framework in the 2003 Act, most of the provisions of which were implemented in April 2005, Probation Officer numbers rose from 6,376 in September 2004 to 6,529 in September 2005 and are projected to rise again to 7,244 by September 2007. By that time Custody Plus will be in operation, completing implementation of the sentences in the 2003 Act. Current Probation Officer projections go as far as September 2009 when the figure is planned to be 7,344.
	Numbers of the more junior practitioner grade of Probation Service Officer (PSO) are also increasing significantly, currently running at some 2 per cent. per quarter. They increased by 672 between 31 March 2004 and 30 September 2005 and funding for a further 700 has been provided to probation boards for 200607. Funding, recruitment and training arrangements for PSOs are different from those for Probation Officers and, as such, PSO projections do not extend as far ahead as those for Probation Officers.
	The staffing needs of Custody Plus are not identified separately from those of the 2003 Act as a whole.

Probation Service

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many trained probation officers were in post in each year since 2002.

Fiona Mactaggart: Information is not available for the full period requested. Data collected prior to one April 2003 is unreliable, and is not directly comparable with the more accurate figures collected since that time. The figures presented in the following table show full-time equivalent (FTE) figures at the close of each quarter from 1 April 2003 to 31 December 2005.
	
		Probation officers in post
		
			  Quarter Probation officers(136) 
		
		
			 200304 1 5831.10 
			  2 5937.84 
			  3 6271.45 
			  4 6285.43 
			
			 200405 1 6257.32 
			  2 6376.48 
			  3 6584.94 
			  4 6566.63 
			
			 200506 1 6469.84 
			  2 6529.41 
			  (137)3 6890.66 
		
	
	(136) The 'probation officers' category includes the senior probation officer, senior practitioner, and probation officer job groups. Trainee probation officers have been excluded from these figures.
	(137) The latest figures are as yet unpublished and are currently being validated. As a result of this they may be subject to change.

Probation Service

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many support staff in the probation service were in post in each year since 2002.

Fiona Mactaggart: Information is not available for the full period requested. Data collected prior to 1 April 2003 are unreliable, and is not directly comparable with the more accurate figures collected since that time. The figures presented in the following table, show the number of staff, in terms of full time equivalent value, employed in a support capacity at the close of each from 1 April 2003 to 31 December 2005.
	The majority of support staff in the National Probation Service provide dedicated services as part of multi-disciplinary operational teams. As such, these staff are generally considered to be part of the operational resource. However, in order to give a more accurate representation of the total number of staff engaged in support work, this group of staff have been included in the table below alongside those staff who provide non-operational support services.
	
		
			   Support staff Support staff (Ops services) Total support staff 
		
		
			 200304 Quarter 1 1491.00 3391.50 4882.50 
			 200304 Quarter 2 1534.20 3312.22 4846.42 
			 200304 Quarter 3 1522.70 3432.64 4955.34 
			 200304 Quarter 4 1517.04 3428.66 4945.70 
			  
			 200405 Quarter 1 1531.84 3421.75 4953.59 
			 200405 Quarter 2 1554.86 3423.60 4978.46 
			 200405 Quarter 3 1670.73 3292.28 4963.01 
			 200405 Quarter 4 1672.45 3317.90 4990.35 
			 200506 Quarter 1 1705.30 3442.44 5147.74 
			 200506 Quarter 2 1765.00 3549.77 5314.77 
			 200506 Quarter 3(138) 1822.80 3631.12 5453.92

Probation Service

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many trained probation service officers were in post in each year since 2002.

Fiona Mactaggart: Information is not available for the full period requested. Data collected prior to 1 April 2003 is unreliable, and is not directly comparable with the more accurate figures collected since that time. The figures presented as follows show the number of staff, in terms of full-time equivalent value, employed as probation service officers at the close of each quarter from 1 April 2003 to 31 December 2005.
	
		Probation service officers
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 200304  
			 Quarter 1 4752.40 
			 Quarter 2 5205.20 
			 Quarter 3 5386.00 
			 Quarter 4 5416.80 
			   
			 200405  
			 Quarter 1 5467.77 
			 Quarter 2 5511.66 
			 Quarter 3 5623.86 
			 Quarter 4 5849.99 
			   
			 200506  
			 Quarter 1 5965.05 
			 Quarter 2 6089.00 
			 Quarter 3(138) 6231.37 
		
	
	(138) These latest figures are as yet unpublished and are currently being validated. As a result of this they may be subject to change.

Reoffending

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people released from prison reoffended within two years in (a) England and (b) Beverley and Holderness in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Fiona Mactaggart: Information on where re-offending occurs is not routinely collated.
	Information on reconviction levels from 1997 to 2001 for England and Wales were published in 'Prison Statistics England and Wales 2002' (Chapter 9) and 'Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003' (Chapter 11). Copies of these publications are available in the House of Commons Library and on the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/omcsa.html.
	The 2002 re-offending rate can be found in 'Adult re-offending: results from the 2002 cohort' Home Office Statistical Bulletin 25/05', available online at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hosb2505.pdf. The section Measuring Re-offending, which begins on page one of the report, explains the difference between reconviction and re-offending measures, as well as the changes to the data source used for these computations. A breakdown of re-offending for those released from prison is available in statistical table A5.

Road Safety

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers have been prosecuted for offences contrary to sections (a) 3 and (b) 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in each of the last eight years, broken down by police force area.

Hazel Blears: Available information taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform from 1997 to 2003 (latest available) are given in the table. 2004 data will be available end of March 2006.
	
		Proceedings at magistrates courts for the offence of driving without due care and attention(139)England and Wales, 19972003
		
			  Number of offences 
			 Forces 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Avon  Somerset 1,554 1,636 1,569 1,403 1,557 1,555 1,034 
			 Bedfordshire 415 409 285 374 410 417 337 
			 Cambridgeshire 974 889 751 757 623 459 432 
			 Cheshire 1,835 1,743 1,426 1,309 1,075 997 977 
			 Cleveland 332 280 233 240 229 188 250 
			 Cumbria 951 950 988 922 729 571 605 
			 Derbyshire 1,057 1,091 1,011 941 629 583 558 
			 Devon  Cornwall 834 826 854 864 1,031 1,139 1,038 
			 Dorset 494 487 424 344 397 419 330 
			 Durham 393 399 432 556 436 484 585 
			 Essex 2,417 2,712 2,455 2,280 1,906 1,518 1,478 
			 Gloucestershire 746 562 437 425 644 578 569 
			 Greater Manchester 4,198 4,321 4,233 3,299 3,227 3,067 2,707 
			 Hampshire 2,808 2,218 1,816 1,580 1,506 1,553 1,354 
			 Hertfordshire 605 660 597 696 695 653 752 
			 Humberside 529 638 623 500 564 654 767 
			 Kent 835 741 555 585 557 582 674 
			 Lancashire 1,504 1,144 1,041 1,118 1,095 1,144 1,074 
			 Leicestershire 1,689 1,384 1,489 1,470 1,335 1,029 914 
			 Lincolnshire 543 364 332 290 311 310 338 
			 London, City of 156 156 157 110 99 91 77 
			 Merseyside 2,435 1,804 1,491 1,500 1,247 892 1,099 
			 Metropolitan Police 12,139 10,893 9,766 7,687 6,839 5,991 5,797 
			 Norfolk 927 924 957 966 1,288 1,070 866 
			 Northamptonshire 481 252 285 226 83 40 226 
			 Northumbria 1,027 1,151 1,143 1,220 1,072 902 950 
			 North Yorkshire 1,305 1,230 1,358 1,239 814 757 778 
			 Nottinghamshire 820 885 816 652 506 416 415 
			 South Yorkshire 1,116 874 966 632 759 646 603 
			 Staffordshire 2,056 1,826 1,503 1,845 1,308 1,328 1,258 
			 Suffolk 668 589 519 537 523 600 540 
			 Surrey 728 708 865 1,015 875 500 510 
			 Sussex 1,547 1,400 1,152 903 781 603 469 
			 Thames Valley 2,354 2,067 1,839 1,421 1,577 1,582 1,391 
			 Warwickshire 706 617 525 597 514 468 531 
			 West Mercia 1,257 1,174 978 938 1,080 1,122 1,026 
			 West Midlands 3,210 3,552 3,254 3,387 2,985 3,034 2,727 
			 West Yorkshire 2,716 2,489 1,891 1,710 1,459 1,130 987 
			 Wiltshire 665 735 393 426 589 600 597 
			 Dyfed Powys 683 519 452 395 361 442 396 
			 Gwent 387 480 371 372 308 288 267 
			 North Wales 564 491 628 532 536 509 672 
			 South Wales 2,159 2,235 1,929 1,708 1,617 1,740 1,837 
			 Total 64,819 60,505 54,789 49,971 46,176 42,651 40,792 
		
	
	(139) Offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 3.
	Note:
	Offences contrary to s. 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 cannot be identified separately from other summary motoring offences.

Security Industry

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications have been received for new security industry association identity cards; how many applications he expects to be processed prior to 20 March 2006; how long on average it takes to process an application; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: From 20 March 2006, contracted manned guards have been required to be licensed to carry out licensable activities. As at 22 March, 85,172 applications had been received from the manned guarding sector, 13,172 were waiting to be entered onto the system and 42,323 had received a licence. By virtue of the backlog (caused by some parts of the industry failing to meet their part of the agreement to submit licences over a 14 month period) the average time taken to process a licence has risen from six weeks for over 80 per cent. of applications to approximately 10 weeks.

Terrorism

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with police authorities in (a) Manchester, (b) Birmingham, (c) Leeds, (d) Liverpool, (e) Edinburgh, (f) Glasgow, (g) Cardiff and (h) other major cities and towns in the UK concerning initiatives to deal with terrorist attacks.

Hazel Blears: Since September 2005, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and I have had discussions with all police authorities in England and Wales, including those in Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Merseyside and South Wales, about reconfiguring policing in their areas to ensure that there is the capacity and resilience to provide protective services, including counter terrorism, to national standards.
	The Government's counter terrorism strategy is a nationwide effort to reduce the threat and our vulnerability to terrorism across the UK and involves a variety of Government Departments and agencies, particularly the police service, working in partnership with local and regional government and the private sector. Key elements of the strategy focus on the development of effective and proportionate protective security arrangements and ensuring that we are prepared to respond effectively to, and recover from, a terrorist attack. We do not comment on the specifics of the operational activity across the UK as this could assist those who may wish to perpetrate acts of terrorism.

Zimbabwe

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) Zimbabwean nationals and (b) former members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police are employed by police forces in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: The data requested is not collected centrally.

Under-age Drinking

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there were for under-age drinking in (a) Lancaster and Wyre and (b) Lancashire in the last year for which figures are available.

Hazel Blears: Under-age drinking is covered by a number of offences on the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. Information on these offences is provided in the following table, which gives the number of defendants aged 1017 years who were proceeded against in magistrates Courts in Lancashire police force area, for selected offences related to alcohol in 2004 broken down by individual court. It is not possible to separate prosecutions in Lancaster and Wyre as the data is not broken down to that level of detail. Statistics for 2005 will be available in the autumn.
	
		Number of defendants aged 1017 years proceeded against at magistrates courts in Lancashire police force area for offences relating to under-aged drinking in 2004(142)
		
			 Court Being found drunk in a highway or other public place(143) Being guilty while drunk of disorderly behaviour(144) Drunk in, or when entering a designated sports event(145) Person under 18 buying or attempting to buy or consuming intoxicating liquor in licensed premisis(146) 
		
		
			 Fylde Coast  6   
			 Blackpool and Fylde  4   
			 Chorley  4   
			 Lancaster  7   
			 Ormskirk  1   
			 Preston 1 28   
			 South Ribble  11  1 
			 Fleetwood  6   
			 Hyndburn  7   
			 Blackburn, Darwen and Ribble Valley  29   
			 Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale 1 19   
			 Lancashire police force area 2 122  1 
		
	
	(142) These data are provided on the principal offence basis
	(143) S. 12 Licensing Act 1872
	(144) S.91 Criminal Justice Act 1967
	(145) S.2(2) Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc) Act 1985
	(146) S.169C(1)E(1) Licensing Act 1964; Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 S.3 Sch para 4(2)

Under-age Drinking

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there were for under-age drinking in (a) Ribble Valley and (b) Lancashire in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Goggins: The specific offence of an individual aged under 18 knowingly consumes alcohol on relevant premises was introduced in the Licensing Act 2003 which came into force on 24 November 2005. Statistics for 2005 will be available in autumn 2006. Before 2005 there was no specific offence for under-age drinking.
	The court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform hold information on other offences relating to drunkenness. The table gives figures for defendants aged 1017 prosecuted for these offences in Lancashire police force area, and Blackburn, Darwen, and Ribble Valley PSA (petty sessional area). It is not possible to identify which prosecutions were for Ribble Valley as the data is not broken down to this level of detail.
	These offences may also be dealt with under the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme. The scheme was introduced in England and Wales in 2004 to provide the police with a swift and efficient means of dealing with minor offences. The table gives data on the number of PNDs issued to juveniles aged 1617 years old for alcohol related offences in Lancashire police force area for 2004 and provisional data for 2005. It is not possible to identify which PNDs were issued in Ribble Valley as the data is not broken down to this level of detail.
	
		Number of penalty notices for disorder issued to under 18s for drinking offences in Lancashire police force area, 2004 and 2005 provisional data
		
			  Drunk and disorderly Drunk in highway Consumption of alcohol by under 18 in licensed premises(147) 
		
		
			 2004 207 5  
			 2005 (provisional data) 344 5 4 
		
	
	(147) offence added to PND scheme from 1 November 2004
	
		Number of defendants aged 10 to 17 years old, prosecuted at magistrates courts for offences relating to underaged drinking, in Lancashire police force area and Blackburn, Darwen, and Ribble Valley petty sessional area (psa) 1997 to 2004(148)
		
			  Lancashire police force area Blackburn, Darwen and Ribble Valley petty sessional area 
			  Being found drunk in a highway or other Public place whether a building or not, or a licensed premises(149) Any person who in any public place is guilty, while drunk, of disorderly behaviour(150) Person under 18 buying or attempting to buy or consuming intoxicating liquor. Person under 18 buying or consuming intoxicating liquor in Licensed premises(151) Being found drunk in a highway or other Public place whether a building or not, or a licensed premises(149) Any person who in any public place is guilty, while drunk, of disorderly behaviour(150) Person under 18 buying or attempting to buy or consuming intoxicating liquor. Person under 18 buying or consuming intoxicating liquor in Licensed premises(151) 
		
		
			 1997 nil 79 nil nil 15 nil 
			 1998 3 107 nil nil 19 nil 
			 1999 4 160 nil nil 31 nil 
			 2000 4 182 nil nil 38 nil 
			 2001 6 204 nil 2 37 nil 
			 2002 7 194 1 nil 33 nil 
			 2003 nil 209 nil nil 50 nil 
			 2004 2 122 1 nil 29 nil 
		
	
	(148) These data are on the principal offence basis.
	(149) Licensing Act 1872 Sec 12.
	(150) Criminal Justice Act 1967 Sec.91.
	(151) Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 Schedule (Sec 3) para 4(2). Licensing Act 1964 Sec 169(2).

Witness Attendance

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of (a) summary trials and (b) trials on indictment in England and Wales in the latest year for which figures are available was not effective because of non-attendance of Crown witnesses; and what percentage of those trials was ineffective due to (i) witnesses not having been warned and (ii) witnesses having been warned but not attending.

Fiona Mactaggart: In 200405, 3.7 per cent. of all Crown court trials and 6.4 per cent. of all magistrates courts trials in England and Wales were ineffective due to the non-attendance of prosecution witnesses. This data is collected from all courts but is not currently broken down by summary and indictable trials, nor is data collected for the reasons for witness non-attendance.
	The Government have introduced Witness Care Units as part of the No Witness, No Justice programme to support all prosecution witnesses from the point at which a defendant has been charged and to ensure that more witnesses attend court. An independent evaluation of the pilot project found that witness attendance at court improved by nearly 20 per cent. and that there was an overall increase of 6 per cent. in victim and witness satisfaction.
	There are now 165 Witness Care Units in place, with full coverage in every criminal justice area, and they have already demonstrated their effectiveness. In those cases handled by the units, the witness attendance rate has increased from 78.5 per cent. in the three months before units went live to 84 per cent. in August 2005.
	Witness Care Units, jointly staffed by the Crown Prosecution Service and the police, ensure that witnesses receive a more thoughtful and tailor-made service, with their individual needs considered from the time a statement is first taken by the police. If the case proceeds to court, witnesses will have a single point of contact to keep them up to date on how the case is proceeding, if and when they are required to give evidence and what the final outcome is.

Yarl's Wood Detention Centre

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on 28th February 2006 how many women at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre had been held for more than (a) one week, (b) one month and (c) one year.

Tony McNulty: The Home Office publishes a quarterly snapshot of people detained solely under Immigration Act powers on the last Saturday of each quarter. The latest published information pertains to people detained as at 31 December 2005.
	The accompanying table shows the number of females detained solely under Immigration Act powers in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre as at 31 December 2005. Separate data is provided on the length of detention but this is not broken down to show the length of detention at specific removal centres.
	Information on the number of women who had been held in detention on the day in question together with the time spent in detention is not available.
	Published statistics on immigration and asylum are available on the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
	
		Women recorded as being in detention at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in the United Kingdom solely under Immigration Act powers as at 31 December 2005, by length of detention(152)
		
			 Length of detention(153) Number of women 
		
		
			 7 days or less 15 
			 7 to 29 days 70 
			 1 month to less than 1 year 135 
			 1 year or more * 
			 Total 220 
		
	
	(152) Figures rounded to the nearest 5, with * = 1 or 2, may not sum due to rounding and exclude persons recorded as detained under both criminal and immigration powers.
	(153) Relates to current period of sole detention only.

Yarl's Wood Detention Centre

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on 28 February 2006 how many children at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre had been held for more than (a) one week and (b) one month.

Tony McNulty: The Home Office publishes a quarterly snapshot of people detained solely under Immigration Act powers on the last Saturday of each quarter. The latest published information pertains to people detained as at 31 December 2005.
	The accompanying table shows the number of minors detained solely under Immigration Act powers in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre as at 31 December 2005 broken down by length of detention.
	The number of children detained with their families solely under Immigration Act powers will change from day to day. However, internal management information shows that, as at 28 February 2006, 31 children were detained for longer than one week, and 14 children were detained for longer than one month at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre.
	Minors are detained only in two limited circumstances: first, as part of a family group whose detention is considered appropriate; second, when unaccompanied, while alternative care arrangements are made and normally just overnight. While the detention of families with children is very regrettable, it nevertheless remains necessary in appropriate cases in order to maintain an effective immigration control and to tackle abuses of the asylum system.
	Published statistics on immigration and asylum are available on the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
	
		Table: Minors recorded as being in detention at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in the United Kingdom solely under Immigration Act powers as at 31 December 2005, by length of detention(154)
		
			 Length of detention(155) Number of minors(156) 
		
		
			 Seven days or less 5 
			 Seven to 29 days 20 
			 One month or more 10 
			 Total 30 
		
	
	(154) Figures rounded to the nearest 5, may not sum due to rounding and exclude persons recorded as detained under both criminal and immigration powers.
	(155) Relates to current period of sole detention only.
	(156) People recorded as being under 18 on 31 December 2005.

Young Offenders

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals who had spent time in a youth detention centre subsequently offended as an adult in each of the last 10 years.

Fiona Mactaggart: The data is not routinely collected.
	The most recent information on the re-offending of juveniles was published in February 2005 as 'Juvenile reconviction: results from the 2003 cohort'. Home Office On-Line Report 08/05'. The report is available on line at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/onlinepubs1.html

Dentistry

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what she estimates the average income of an NHS dentist will be under the new contract for dentists.

Rosie Winterton: We estimate that a committed national health service dentist earns an average net income of around 80,000 in 200506. The Government have accepted the independent Pay Review Body's recommendation of a 3 per cent. increase in dentists' pay, which means that we would expect the same dentist to earn an average of over 82,000 in 200607.

Dentistry

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much her Department has spent per capita on NHS dentistry in (a) the Beverley and Holderness constituency, (b) East Yorkshire and (c) England in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: Figures on expenditure per capita in the Beverley and Holderness constituency cannot be calculated, as population data is not available for parliamentary constituency areas.
	The table shows the readily available data on expenditure on the general dental services (GDS), or personal dental services (PDS) in the Beverley and Holderness constituency. The difference between gross and net expenditure is the contribution to costs from dental charges collected directly from patients.
	
		Core GDS and PDS dental payments within Beverley and Holderness constituency
		
			 ( million) 
			  Gross GDS and PDS payments1, 2, 3 Net GDS and PDS payments(162) 
		
		
			 199798 1.598 1.033 
			 199899 1.740 1.121 
			 19992000 1.882 1.197 
			 200001 2.109 1.354 
			 200102 2.322 1.502 
			 200203 2.434 1.561 
			 200304 2.302 1.502 
			 200405 2.106 1.506 
		
	
	Equivalent expenditure within East Yorkshire primary care trust (PCT), together with gross and net expenditure on a per capita basis, is shown in the tables.
	
		Core GDS and PDS dental payments within East Yorkshire PCT
		
			 ( million) 
			  Gross GDS and PDS payments1, 2, 3 Net GDS and PDS payments(162) 
		
		
			 199798 3.325 2.136 
			 199899 3.479 2.232 
			 19992000 3.440 2.188 
			 200001 3.542 2.307 
			 200102 3.919 2.515 
			 200203 4.021 2.560 
			 200304 3.926 2.539 
			 200405 3.882 2.590 
		
	
	
		Core GDS and PDS dental payments per Capita(163) within East Yorkshire PCT
		
			 () 
			  Gross GDS and PDS payments1, 2, 3 Net GDS and PDS payments(162) 
		
		
			 199798 19.46 12.50 
			 199899 20.36 13.06 
			 19992000 20.13 12.81 
			 200001 20.73 13.50 
			 200102 22.80 14.64 
			 200203 23.26 14.81 
			 200304 22.47 14.53 
			 200405 22.22 14.83 
		
	
	Equivalent expenditure for England is set out in the tables. As the notes to the table's record, this data is not a complete record of all elements of GDS and PDS expenditure. The tables are based on the core elements of expenditure for which data is readily available by PCT and constituency areas to provide a more appropriate comparison with the analysis of local expenditure.
	
		Core GDS and PDS dental payments in England 
		
			 ( million) 
			  Gross GDS and PDS payments1, 2, 3 Net GDS and PDS payments(162) 
		
		
			 199798 1,291.9 903.1 
			 199899 1,380.0 960.0 
			 19992000 1,418.9 986.8 
			 200001 1,490.5 1,037.0 
			 200102 1,555.6 1,085.6 
			 200203 1,604.2 1,122.6 
			 200304 1,673.8 1,188.6 
			 200405 1,779.4 1,311.8 
		
	
	
		Core GDS and PDS dental payments per Capita(163) England 
		
			 () 
			  Gross GDS and PDS payments1, 2, 3 Net GDS and PDS payments(162) 
		
		
			 199798 26.55 18.56 
			 199899 28.27 19.66 
			 19992000 28.94 20.12 
			 200001 30.27 21.06 
			 200102 31.46 21.95 
			 200203 32.31 22.61 
			 200304 33.57 23.84 
			 200405 35.52 26.19 
		
	
	(159) Gross GDS payments include adult fees (including item of service and continuing care payments), child fees (including item of service and capitation payments), commitment payments and point of treatment check payment training (in 2001 only), seniority payments, maternity/paternity/adoptive leave payments, long term sick leave payments, continuing professional development allowances including travel hours, reimbursement of business rates, vocational training grants and clinical audit payments. The following costs are excluded from this data; employer's superannuation costs, vocational trainee salaries and national insurance contribution costs, clinical audit convenors, clinical audit secretarial support costs and travel expenses, and costs associated with any salaried general dental practitioners and emergency dental services.
	(160) National PDS payment data is included for 200405 only and relates to baseline payments or the agreed regular monthly payments made to PDS practices. Reliable PDS data at practice level is not available prior to 200405. The data cannot identify the cost of any PDS services that are directly managed by local NHS trusts, such as certain dental access centres.
	(161) Payments are assigned to areas on the basis of practice postcode data.
	(162) Net payments represent the balance of payments due after taking account of NHS dental charge income collected from patients by dental practices.
	(163) 19972000 data have been calculated using 2001 population data, as this is the earliest available. 2005 data have been calculated using 2004 population data, as this is the latest available.
	Source: The Information Centre/Dental Practice Board

Dentistry

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were registered with a dentist in the area of each primary care trust or its equivalent on 31 March (a) of 2006 and (b) of each year since 1997; and what proportion each figure represents of the resident population of each area.

Rosie Winterton: Data on the numbers of people registered with a general dental services and personal dental services dentist as at 31 December 2005 and each year since 1997 has been placed in the Library.

Dentistry

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on NHS dentistry in Gloucestershire in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each of the last five years.

Rosie Winterton: The main element of national health service dental services are the primary dental care services provided by dentists working within the general dental service (GDS), or personal dental service (PDS) pilots.
	The tables show the available data on expenditure on these services for the Cheltenham and Tewkesbury primary care trust (PCT), Cotswold and Vale PCT and West Gloucestershire PCT. The difference between gross and net expenditure is the contribution to costs from dental charges collected directly from patients.
	Note that data on PDS expenditure is only available for the financial year 200405.
	
		Core GDS and PDS dental payments(164)(165)(166)(167) ( million, cash terms(168))
		
			  200001 200102 200203 200304 200405 
		
		
			 Cheltenham and Tewkesbury  
			 Gross GDS 4.142 4.255 4.396 4.495 4.598 
			 Net GDS 2.938 2.993 3.059 3.210 3.301 
			 Gross PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.000 
			 Net PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.000 
			 Gross GDS and PDS 4.142 4.255 4.396 4.495 4.598 
			 Net GDS and PDS 2.938 2.993 3.059 3.210 3.301 
			   
			 Cotswold and Vale  
			 Gross GDS 3.897 3.893 3.888 3.831 3.360 
			 Net GDS 2.645 2.672 2.734 2.756 2.503 
			 Gross PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.599 
			 Net PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.415 
			 Gross GDS and PDS 3.897 3.893 3.888 3.831 3.959 
			 Net GDS and PDS 2.645 2.672 2.734 2.756 2.918 
			   
			 West Gloucestershire  
			 Gross GDS 4.125 3.999 3.880 3.871 3.723 
			 Net GDS 3.339 3.212 3.094 3.131 3.068 
			 Gross PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.231 
			 Net PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.200 
			 Gross GDS and PDS 4.125 3.999 3.880 3.871 3.954 
			 Net GDS and PDS 3.339 3.212 3.094 3.131 3.269 
		
	
	
		Core GDS and PDS dental payments(164)(165)(166)(167) ( million, real terms(168))
		
			  200001 200102 200203 200304 200405 
		
		
			 Cheltenham and Tewkesbury  
			 Gross GDS 4.688 4.701 4.706 4.690 4.694 
			 Net GDS 3.325 3.306 3.275 3.349 3.370 
			 Gross PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.000 
			 Net PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.000 
			 Gross GDS and PDS 4.688 4.701 4.706 4.690 4.694 
			 Net GDS and PDS 3.325 3.306 3.275 3.349 3.370 
			   
			 Cotswold and Vale  
			 Gross GDS 4.411 4.301 4.162 3.997 3.431 
			 Net GDS 2.993 2.952 2.927 2.876 2.556 
			 Gross PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.611 
			 Net PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.424 
			 Gross GDS and PDS 4.411 4301 4.162 3.997 4.042 
			 Net GDS and PDS 2.993 2.952 2.927 2.876 2.980 
			   
			 West Gloucestershire  
			 Gross GDS 4.668 4.417 4.154 4.038 3.801 
			 Net GDS 3.779 3.548 3.313 3.266 3.132 
			 Gross PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.236 
			 Net PDS(169) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0.205 
			 Gross GDS and PDS 4.668 4.417 4.154 4.038 4.037 
			 Net GDS and PDS 3.779 3.548 3.313 3.266 3.337 
		
	
	(164) Gross GDS payments include adult fees (including item of service and continuing care payments), child fees (including item of service and capitation payments), commitment payments and point of treatment check payment training (in 2001 only), seniority payments, maternity/paternity/adoptive leave payments, long term sick leave payments, continuing professional development allowances including travel hours, reimbursement of business rates, vocational training grants and clinical audit payments. The following costs are excluded from this data: employer's superannuation costs, vocational trainee salaries and national insurance contribution costs, clinical audit convenors, clinical audit secretarial support costs and travel expenses, and costs associated with any salaried general dental practitioners and emergency dental services.
	(165) PDS payment data are included for 200405 only and relates to baseline payments or the agreed regular monthly payments made to PDS practices. Reliable PDS data at practice level are not available prior to 200405. The data cannot identify the cost of any PDS services that are directly managed by local NHS trusts, such as certain dental access centres.
	(166) Payments are assigned to areas on the basis of practice postcode data.
	(167) Net payments represent the balance of payments due after taking account of NHS dental charge income collected from patients by dental practices.
	(168) Figures have been converted into 200506 prices using the most recent GDP deflator figures available.
	(169) Note that data on PDS expenditure are only available for the financial year 200405 (n/a = not available).

NHS Deficit

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she next expects to meet representatives of primary care trusts and acute trusts to discuss NHS deficits.

Jane Kennedy: Secretary of State and her ministerial team have regular meetings with strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and acute trusts. This includes meetings with NHS organisations that are overspending and underspending. These meetings will continue to take place in the future.

Pathway Project

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will announce the commencement of funding for the pathway project.

Jane Kennedy: The cost and configuration of the scheme is currently being reviewed by the trust, as it recognises that all investments in the NHS have to be affordable to the local health economy and sustainable in the long term.

Aluminium Salts

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps the Government is taking in the light of the report in the Journal of Applied Toxicology of 1 March 2006 on a possible link between aluminium used in deodorants and the incidence of breast cancer;
	(2)  what research the Government is conducting into the effect of aluminium salts in anti-perspirants upon human health.

Caroline Flint: The EU Cosmetics Directive, implemented in the United Kingdom by the Department of Trade and Industry's Cosmetics Products Safety Regulations, covers the safety of cosmetics. Currently aluminium zirconium chloride hydroxide complexes are specifically allowed as antiperspirants (up to 20 per cent.) but with the labelling requirement: Do not apply to irritated or damaged skin.
	The European Commission's expert advisory committee, established to advise on the safety of consumer products including cosmetics, the scientific committee on consumer products (SCCP) has recently considered the hypothesis that chemicals in underarm deodorants are a risk factor in breast cancer due to their potential oestrogenicity. They concluded that there was no evidence of any demonstrable risk of the development of breast cancer caused by the use of underarm cosmetics. The recent paper in J Applied Toxicology claiming oestrogenic activity for a large range of metals, including aluminium, which is used as an anti-perspirant in underarm deodorants, provides very limited data from in vitro studies. No conclusions can be drawn regarding the biological significance of these data. We are advised by the Health Protection Agency that the paper does not provide any information that would suggest that the recent SCCP opinion on this hypothesis should be reconsidered. There is no justification for government supporting research in this area.

Avian Influenza

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps her Department has taken to protect the public from an outbreak of the H5N1 virus.

Rosie Winterton: It is important to be clear about the differences between seasonal influenza, avian influenza and pandemic influenza. Avian (bird) influenza is a disease which mainly affects birds. Seasonal flu refers to the viruses that circulate in the human population and cause widespread illness each winter. Pandemic flu will only occur after an avian virus has mutated into a different strain which can spread easily between humans, and to which they do not have immunity.
	The UK Influenza Pandemic Contingency Plan outlines what the Department is doing to protect the public from pandemic influenza. The plan is available on the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk/pandemicflu.
	Experts are concerned that the H5N1 strain may emerge to form a pandemic. On 20 July 2005, the Department invited manufacturers to tender for a limited supply of H5N1 vaccine. The move is part of the work to prepare for and reduce the impact of a possible flu pandemic. We have awarded contracts to Baxter and Chiron for supplies of 3.7 million doses of H5N1 vaccine and expect to receive stocks by October 2006.

Clinical Trials

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) hon. Members, (b) members of the House of Lords, (c) the British Medical Association, (d) members of the public and (e) the Royal College of Surgeons on clinical trials in hospitals; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: Together with ministerial colleagues and departmental officials, the Secretary of State is in constant dialogue with hon. Members, Members of the House of Lords, professional bodies, and members of the public on all aspects of the Department's responsibilities.
	The consultation document Best Research for Best Health: a new national health research strategy that the Department published last year included proposals for the creation of world-class support to the national health service organisations, staff and patients involved in the health research that forms an integral part of high-quality patient care in England. Some 500 organisations and individuals, including the Royal College of Surgeons and the British Medical Association, responded to an invitation to comment. Their response is available on the Department's web site at www.dh.gov.uk/consultations/. The final Government NHS research strategy Best Research for Best Health has been strengthened by this input.
	The Department funds INVOLVE, an organisation that supports and promotes public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research and development. INVOLVE deals regularly with inquiries about public involvement in such research from patients and members of the public.
	The UK Clinical Research Collaboration and the UK Clinical Research Network have brought together a number of organisations that are active in patient and public involvement in research, to discuss issues concerned with that involvement and to develop a shared agenda that maximises the impact of individual organisations' activities and minimises unnecessary duplication. One of the first products of this collaborative working will be the production of a guide to understanding clinical trials for patients and the public.

London Hospitals

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital beds were available in each London hospital in each of the last five years.

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is collected at trust level only. The table shows data for the past five years. This data is also available on the Department's website at:www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/data_re quests/beds_open_overnight.htm.
	
		Beds in:
		
			 Org Code Organisation 200405 200304 200203 200102 200001 
		
		
			 RV3 Central and North West London Mental Health NHS Trust 720 747 847 640 732 
			 ROM Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust 449 503 509 509 481 
			 RC3 Ealing Hospital NHS Trust 427 436 415 395 379 
			 RON Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust 1,071 1,037 1,021 1,021 1,056 
			 5K6 Harrow PCT 125 127 125   
			 SAT Hillingdon PCT 152 155 34   
			 5LA Kensington and Chelsea PCT 203 29 149   
			 RV8 North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 946 874 895 830 852 
			 RT3 Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust 387 388 392 378 421 
			 RJ5 St Mary's NHS Trust 588 635 636 636 579 
			 RAS The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust 512 539 668 661 654 
			 RKL West London Mental Health NHS Trust 663 673 654 569  
			 RFW West Middlesex University NHS Trust 394 388 431 432 410 
			 5LC Westminster PCT 81 50
			 RVL Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 981 1,001 1,030 1,037 913 
			 5A9 Barnet PCT 139 140 140 138  
			 RRP Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust 787 751 701 743  
			 TAP Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust 454 424 451   
			 5K7 Camden PCT 105 105 105   
			 5C1 Enfield PCT 60 62 60 58  
			 RP4 Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children NHS Trust 263 293 282 279 272 
			 5C9 Haringey PCT 60 60 68 72  
			 5K8 Islington PCT 4 6 7 -  
			 RP6 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust 44 49 51 61 61 
			 RAP North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust 465 478 477 487 397 
			 RAL Royal Free  Hampstead NHS Trust 821 889 906 923 974 
			 RAN Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust 173 194 179 163 194 
			 RKE The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust 439 443 429 405 461 
			 RRV University College London Hospitals NHS Trust 952 926 834 832 848 
			 RF4 Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust 1,512 1,491 1,473 1,426  
			 RNJ Barts. and the London NHS Trust 998 1,090 1,093 1,115 1,056 
			 RWK East London and the City Mental Health NHS Trust 635 628 637 493 514 
			 5A4 Havering PCT 181 180 180 181  
			 RQX Homerton University Hospitals NHS Trust 523 508 473 461 491 
			 RNH Newham Healthcare NHS Trust 424 449 452 463 470 
			 5C5 Newham PCT 114 117 120 106  
			 RAT North East London Mental Health NHS Trust 624 726 757 840  
			 5NA Redbridge PCT 48 
			 5CA Tower Hamlets PCT 136 122 190 136  
			 RGC Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust 765 739 751 846  
			 RG3 Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust 551 546 606 655 655 
			 RJ1 Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Trust 1,216 1,278 1.267 1,248 1.243 
			 RJZ King's College Hospital NHS Trust 915 966 925 913 978 
			 RPG Oxleas NHS Trust 439 442 493 452 391 
			 RG2 Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust 561 484 493 483 477 
			 RGZ Queen Mary Sidcup NHS Trust 444 453 447 435 448 
			 RV5 South London and Maudsley NHS Trust 1.062 1,054 925 967 960 
			 5LE Southwalk PCT 11 
			 RJ2 The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust 609 5B3 583 560 561 
			 RVR Epsom and St. Helier NHS Trust 930 873 872 960 935 
			 RAX Kingston Hospitals NHS Trust 599 585 576 590 575 
			 5A5 Kingston PCT 110 117 116 154  
			 RJ6 Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust 727 729 711 727 767 
			 5M6 Richmond and Twickenham PCT 50 35 39   
			 RQY South West London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trust 830 854 846 838 595 
			 RJ7 St. George's Healthcare NHS Trust 957 1,000 983 990 984 
			 5M7 Sutton and Merton PCT 230 278
			 RPY The Royal Marsden NHS Trust 241 231 232 241 240 
			 5LG Wandsworth PCT 85 88 92   
			 5K5 Brent PCT   92   
			 RHB Camden  Islington Community Health Service NHS Trust117 499 
			 RRQ Camden  Islington Mental Health NHS Trust349  
			 5C7 Chingford Wanstead  Woodford PCT   13 45  
			 RV4 Community Health South London NHS Trust40 40 
			 RHZ East Berkshire Community NHS Trust20  
			 RQK Harrow and Hillingdon Healthcare NHS Trust242 236 
			 RFX Hounslow  Spelthorne Community  Mental Health NHS Trust257 247 
			 RVM South East London Community NHS Trust369 367 
			 5A6 Teddington Twickenham  Hamptons PCT40  
			 5GV Watford  Three Rivers PCT6  
			 RCZ Barnet Community Health Care NHS Trust 390 
			 RG6 Bhb Community Health NHS Trust 566 
			 RA0 Croydon Community NHS Trust 5 
			 RV2 Ealing, Hammersmith  Fulham Mental Health NHS Trust 567 
			 RHC Enfield Community Care NHS Trust 475 
			 RDF Forest Healthcare NHS Trust 1,038 
			 RP2 Haringey Health Care NHS Trust 427 
			 RG7 Havering Hospitals NHS Trust 799 
			 RPN Kingston and District Community NHS Trust 444 
			 RRH Newham Community Health Services NHS Trust- 180 
			 RDA Parkside Health NHS Trust 293 
			 RG4 Redbridge Health Care NHS Trust 884 
			 RRR Teddington Memorial NHS Trust 34 
			 RRG Tower Hamlets Healthcare NHS Trust 160 
			  London total 29,013 29,047 28,921 29,034 29,673

Obesity

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her answer of 19 December 2005, Official Report, column 2637W, on obesity, why the Government decided not to establish the proposed National Partnership for Obesity.

Caroline Flint: The reply given on 19 December 2005 about the national partnership for obesity was incorrect as a decision not to establish the partnership had not been taken. A letter explaining this error was sent to the hon. Member on 6 February 2006 and a correction has been made in the official report.
	Over the coming months, the Department will explore with relevant non-Governmental organisations how it can support the establishment of a national partnership for obesity. The objective will be to promote practical action on the prevention and management of obesity and provide a source of information and evidence of effectiveness.

Resource Accounting and Budgeting

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the application of Resource Accounting and Budgeting funding rules mean that a cumulative deficit will continue to increase even after a trust has moved to a position of in-year breakeven; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: Under the carry forward regime, organisations that underspend in one year, receive the funding back in the following year. Organisations that overspend have their funding reduced in the following year by the amount they overspent.
	This principle is part of the resource accounting and budgeting rules applied by HM Treasury across Government and which the Department applies to the national health service.
	In addition to the resource accounting and budgeting rules NHS trusts must breakeven taking one year with the next. Any deficit must be matched by a surplus over a three or exceptionally five year period.
	A NHS trust that overspends will therefore need to live within the reduced resources in the following year to break even. If they achieve break even then the accumulated deficit will not increase. To clear the accumulated deficit the NHS trust will need to generate a surplus.

Waiting Lists/Times

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will visit Wellingborough to discuss local NHS waiting times.

Rosie Winterton: There are no current plans for to visit Wellingborough. Latest figures show that at the end of December 2005 there were no patients in the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority area waiting more than 13 weeks for a first out-patient appointment and that at the end of February 2006 there was one patient waiting more than six months for in-patient treatment.

Ministerial Code of Conduct

Simon Burns: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  when paragraphs 2.7 to 2.10 of the Ministerial Code were drafted; and by whom;
	(2)  pursuant to the evidence taken by the Select Committee on the Armed Forces (Fifth Sitting) on 29 March 2006, Official Report, column 123, whether the hon. and learned Member for Redcar (Vera Baird) wrote the section of the Ministerial Code of Conduct referring to Parliamentary private secretaries.

Tony Blair: The Ministerial Code is guidance issued by me to Ministers on the standards they are expected to uphold in the performance of their duties. The detailed guidance relating to the work of Parliamentary Private Secretaries is not new, and is similar to the wording in previous versions of the Ministerial Code and its predecessor document Questions of Procedure for Ministers.

Trusting in the Pensions Promise Report

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he will publish the Government's full response to the parliamentary and health service ombudsman's report trusting in the pensions promise before the summer recess.

Stephen Timms: Yes.

Benefits

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Ribble Valley received (a) widow's benefit, (b) housing benefit, (c) council tax benefit and (d) income support in each year since 1997.

James Plaskitt: Widows benefit is not available broken down geographically prior to 1999. Housing benefit and council tax benefit figures are not available broken down by parliamentary constituency; local authority figures have been provided.
	The available information is in the following tables.
	
		Widows benefit and bereavement benefit claimants in the Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency: each August 19992005
		
			  Widows benefit Bereavement benefit 
		
		
			 1999 400 n/a 
			 2000 400 n/a 
			 2001 400 (177) 
			 2002 300 100 
			 2003 300 100 
			 2004 200 100 
			 2005 200 100 
		
	
	n/a = Figures are not applicable.
	(177) Nil or negligible.
	Notes:
	1. Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.
	2. Bereavement Benefit, which replaced Widows Benefit for new claims, was introduced in April 2001.
	Source:
	DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent.
	
		Housing benefit and council tax benefit caseloads: Ribble Valley borough council; each August from 1997 to 2005
		
			  Housing benefit Council tax benefit 
		
		
			 1997 1,500 2,400 
			 1998 1,500 2,300 
			 1999 1,400 2,200 
			 2000 1,400 2,100 
			 2001 1,400 2,100 
			 2002 1,400 2,100 
			 2003 1,400 2,100 
			 2004 1,400 2,200 
			 2005 1,500 2,300 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
	2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
	3. Council Tax Benefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.
	4. Housing Benefit figures exclude any Extended Payment cases.
	Source:
	Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken in August 1997 to August 2005.
	
		Income support claimants (excluding Minimum Income Guarantee) in the Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency; each August from 1997 to 2005
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1997 1,500 
			 1998 1,400 
			 1999 1,500 
			 2000 1,400 
			 2001 1,400 
			 2002 1,400 
			 2003 1,400 
			 2004 1,300 
			 2005 1,300 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures for August 1999 to August 2005 are from the DWP 100 per cent. Work  Pensions Longitudinal Study, while figures for August 1997 and August 1998 are derived by applying 5 per cent. proportions to 100 per cent. totals.
	2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
	3. Income Support figures exclude Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG); Pension Credit replaced MIG on the 6 October 2003 and ended IS entitlement to customers aged 60+. Pension Credit cases are not included in the figures in the table.
	Source:
	DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) and DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. samples

Benefits

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether existing recipients of incapacity benefit will be able to receive the planned (a) higher rates of benefit and (b) additional services for which new claimants will be eligible.

Anne McGuire: We are determined to ensure that people already on incapacity benefits are treated fairly, while also ensuring that they have the right levels of support and encouragement to help them return to work where this is possible. We are therefore proposing that people already on incapacity benefits should have their existing benefit level protected but should also be able to benefit from the support we offer. Indeed, existing claimants in Pathways areas have always been able to volunteer for the programme and many already do. We have set out our proposals in the Green Paper A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work (Cm 6730) published on 24 January 2006; available in the Library.

Call Centres

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on running call centres in (a) 200405 and (b) the first half of 200506, broken down by region.

Anne McGuire: In their recent study Department for Work and Pensions, Delivering effective services through contact centres, the National Audit Office estimated that DWP contact centres cost 190 million to run in 200405.
	As contact centres are an integral part of the businesses they support, it is not possible to precisely identify the specific costs of the call centre element. For example, the pension centres perform both contact centre and claims processing functions and it is not possible to precisely allocate the costs between these two functions.

Departmental Equipment

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) laptops and (b) mobile phones his Department bought in each year since 1997; and what the cost of each category of equipment was in each year.

Anne McGuire: DWP records on laptop purchases are available from October 2001 onwards:
	
		
			  Laptops (Number) Value (excluding VAT) () 
		
		
			 2001(178) 546 608,079.43 
			 2002 3,827 5,084,363.10 
			 2003 3,773 4,219,381.04 
			 2004 1,206 1,246,590.93 
			 2005 364 383,869.57 
			 Grand Total 9,716 11,542,284.07 
		
	
	(178) First purchase October 2001.
	Mobile Phones
	The information requested on mobile telephones is not available prior to 2005. Mobile phones are treated by DWP as an expensed item and therefore are not recorded as central assets. Each local manager is responsible for such items within their local cost centre.
	Figures for calendar year 2005 are available; 2,385 mobiles were purchased in 2005 at a cost of 100,971 (excluding VAT).

Departmental Telephone Numbers

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the (a) 0800 and (b) 0845 telephone numbers for the public administered by (i) his Department and (ii) agencies which report to him.

Anne McGuire: You have requested information broken down by the Department and agencies; the information is not available in this format. Under the arrangements the Department and its agencies has with its supplier there are around 4,700, 0800 or 0845 numbers for the public and its internal use. The details of numbers have been placed in the Library.

Jobseekers Allowance

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what average period a person aged (a) 16 to 20, (b) 21 to 25, (c) 26 to 35, (d) 35 to 50 and (e) 50 plus claimed jobseeker's allowance before gaining employment in the last period for which figures are available.

James Plaskitt: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The Department for Work and Pensions Research Report No. 244Destination of benefit leavers 2004showed that nationally, 62 per cent. of claimants leaving income support, incapacity benefit or jobseekers allowance entered employment of 16 hours or more a week. However, this information is not available broken down by age group or duration. Copies of the report are available in the Library.
	The available information on jobseeker's allowance durations broken down by age group is in the table.
	
		Jobseeker's allowance claimants by age and duration: Great Britain, August 2005
		
			  All ages Under 20 20 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 49 50 and over 
		
		
			 All durations 950,540 117,695 180,260 225,735 273,090 153,760 
			 Up to 3 months 427,145 70,045 96,965 98,790 107,100 54,240 
			 3 months up to 6 months 224,185 31,260 46,465 52,975 61,570 31,910 
			 6 months up to 1 year 167,775 14,570 29,055 43,300 54,410 26,440 
			 1 year and up to 2 years 91,770 1,780 6,700 25,230 37,895 20,165 
			 2 years and up to 5 years 31,705 40 1,060 5,070 10,235 15,300 
			 5 years and over 7,965 (179) 10 370 1,885 5,700 
		
	
	(179) Denotes nil/negligible.
	Notes:
	1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.
	2. Figures are not seasonally adjusted.
	Source:
	Count of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems (computer held cases only).

New Deal

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what funding will be made available in each of the next three years for (a) New Deal for 25 plus, (b) Work Based Learning for Adults, (c) Project Work, (d) Jobsearch Provision, (e) Employment Zones and (f) other employment schemes in (i) West Sussex and (ii) East Worthing and Shoreham;
	(2)  how much his Department has spent on each programme to help the unemployed move back into work in each year since 1997 in (a) West Sussex, (b) East Worthing and Shoreham and (c) the UK.

Margaret Hodge: Information on programme spend and projected spend is not available broken down at parliamentary constituency or county council level.
	Information is not available for the whole of the UK as this Department does not deliver employment programmes in Northern Ireland.
	Information on programme spend in Great Britain, in each year since 1997 is in the table.
	
		Programme spend since 1997
		
			  million 
			 Programme 199798 199899 19992000 200001 200102 200203 200304 200405 
		
		
			 New deal for young people 12 162 282 293 219 221 265 264 
			 New deal 25 plus  17 71 42 140 166 189 169 
			 New deal for disabled people  0 15 7 4 16 28 65 
			 New deal for lone parents  1 12 14 9 18 20 24 
			 New deal 50 plus(181)   1 45 82 82 42 3 
			 New deal for partners   0 1 2 0 0 1 
			 WORKSTEP(182) 61 60 64 63 60 59 74 69 
			 Access to Work 15 21 27 32 42 51 56 60 
			 Work Preparation(183) 9 10 12 11 7 8 10 13 
			 Other programmes for disabled people(184) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Work Based Learning for Adults(185) 382 264 264 275 168 123 142 193 
			 Employment Zones  1 1 72 96 94 84 75 
			 Action Teams6 23 30 38 23 
			 Jobsearch provision(186) 31 10 32 30 19 16 19 21 
			 Residential Training(187) 14 13 15 13 18 18 17 17 
			 Pathways to Work   1 15 
			 Ambition   8 14 
			 Adviser Discretion Fund   5 9 
			 Travel to interview scheme 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 2 
			 Rapid Response Service  3 2 1 
			 Project work 41 8   
			 Other(188) 17 27 8 4 6 6 6 24 
		
	
	(181) The New Deal 50 plus Employment Credit was subsumed within the 50 plus element of the Working Tax Credit from 200304.
	(182) WORKSTEP was previously Supported Employment.
	(183) Work Preparation was previously Employment Rehabilitation.
	(184) Includes the Job Introduction Scheme, marketing of programmes for disabled people and expenditure on the Disability Consulting Group.
	(185) Previously Training for Work.
	(186) Includes expenditure on Programme Centres (previously Jobclubs); Jobplan and Resource Centres.
	(187) In England only. Figures for 200001 and earlier years exclude training allowances.
	(188) Includes ethnic minority initiatives; Restart fares; Work Trials; Workwise; Jobmatch; Community Action; research, and publicity and marketing.
	Notes:
	1. Data comprises programme expenditure, allowance payments paid to New Deal participants and the New Deal 50 plus Employment Credit.
	2. All figures are rounded to the nearest  million; expenditure of less than 500,000 is shown as a zero.
	Sources:
	Jobcentre Plus Financial Strategy Division
	Jobcentre Plus Financial Control Division

New Deal

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have participated in (a) New Deal for 25 plus, (b) Work Based Learning for Adults, (c) Project Work, (d) Jobsearch Provision, (e) Employment Zones and (f) other employment schemes in (i) West Sussex and (ii) East Worthing and Shoreham in each year since 1997.

Margaret Hodge: People living in West Sussex and East Worthing and Shoreham can access a wide range of programmes to help them into employment, including the New Deal, which has helped nearly 6,500 people into work in West Sussex, 900 of whom are in East Worthing and Shoreham.
	The Ambition Energy programme, which has supported people into employment as gas network operatives and domestic gas installers, has also been available to people in West Sussex. 14 people attended a course in Albourne in July 2002; 16 people attended a course in Crawley in November 2003; and a further 16 attended another Crawley course in April 2004.
	Specialist programmes like progress2work, which helps participants tackle the employment barriers they face due to drug misuse, are available to people in West Sussex. Data is not available on the number of participants broken down at county council or parliamentary constituency level. People in West Sussex with health conditions and disabilities who need support in the workplace, or help to enter employment, can access the full range of specialist programmes like Access to Work, the Job Introduction Scheme and WORKSTEP. Data on participants is not available broken down at the level requested.
	From August 2001 until the end of July 2005, people living in the Adur local authority area who signed on in Brighton were able to access the Employment Zone in Brighton and Hove. During that period, less than 10 people in each year from the Adur local authority area joined the Employment Zone.
	Jobsearch Provision is normally used to describe the services offered by Programme Centres. Programme Centres provide individually tailored job search help, including CV preparation, interview skills, telephone techniques and help with application forms. People in West Sussex currently access Programme Centre support in Brighton and Hastings and a contracting process is underway to re-deliver this service in West Sussex. Information on starts to Programme Centres is not available at the level requested.
	Project Work was a pilot which ran in 31 areas from February 1997 and was developed by the previous administration. It has not operated since 199899 and starts data is not available.
	The available information on the number of people who have participated in employment programmes in West Sussex and East Worthing and Shoreham in each year since 1997 is in the following tables.
	
		Participants on the new deal in West Sussex
		
			  Individual starts 
			 Time period New deal for young people New deal 25 plus New deal for lone parents New deal 50 plus New deal for partners 
		
		
			 January to December  
			 1998 400 170 90   
			 1999 480 260 530   
			 2000 380 280 540   
			 2001 320 320 670   
			 2002 330 240 890   
			 2003 370 330 720   
			 2004 440 360 950 200 200 
			   
			 January to August(189) January to November(189)  
			 2005 550 340 850 80 80 
			 Total 3,290 2,300 5,250 280 280 
		
	
	
		Participants on New Deal in East Worthing and Shoreham
		
			  Individual starts 
			 Time period New deal for young people New deal 25 plus New deal for lone parents New deal 50 plus New deal for partners 
		
		
			 January to December  
			 1998 70 30 10   
			 1999 80 40 70   
			 2000 60 40 80   
			 2001 40 40 100   
			 2002 40 20 150   
			 2003 70 40 90   
			 2004 60 30 110 40 0 
			   
			 January to August(189) January to November(189)  
			 2005 80 30 140 10 0 
			 Total 500 270 740 50 0 
		
	
	(189) Latest data relates to the end of August 2005 for New Deal for Young People, New Deal 25 plus, and New Deal for Lone Parents, and to the end of November 2005 for New Deal 50 plus and New Deal for Partners.
	Notes:
	1. New Deal for Disabled People data is not available at parliamentary constituency or county council level.
	2. The New Deal programmes started at the following times: New Deal for Young People: January 1998; New Deal 25 plus: July 1998; New Deal for Lone Parents: October 1998; New Deal 50 plus: April 2000; New Deal for Partners: May 1999.
	3. The New Deal 50 plus starts data provided is from January 2004 and New Deal 50 plus jobs information is from April 2003. A time series breakdown is not available for New Deal 50 plus jobs prior to April 2003 broken down by county council or parliamentary constituency.
	4. New Deal for Partners data for starts and jobs is from April 2004 as this data is not available at parliamentary constituency or county council level prior to then.
	5. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and totals may not sum due to rounding.
	Sources:
	Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate
	DWP Information Directorate
	
		Participants on work based learning for adults in West Sussex
		
			 Time period Starts 
		
		
			 2001(190) 230 
			 2002 470 
			 2003 630 
			 2004 760 
			 2005(191) 660 
		
	
	
		Participants on work based learning for adults in East Worthing and Shoreham
		
			 Time period Starts 
		
		
			 2001(190) 30 
			 2002 50 
			 2003 90 
			 2004 110 
			 2005(191) 90 
		
	
	(190) From April.
	(191) To November.
	Notes:
	1. Data is not available at county council and parliamentary constituency level before April 2001.
	2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
	Source:
	Department for Work and Pensions, Work Based Learning for Adults Evaluation Database

Pathways to Work

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of Pathways to Work participants have found work within (a) one month, (b) two months, (c) six months, (d) 12 months and (e) more than 12 months; and how many in each category had been claiming incapacity benefit for (i) up to six months, (ii) six to 12 months, (iii) 12 months to five years and (iv) more than five years.

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is in the following tables:
	
		(a) New/Repeat mandatory customers
		
			 Percentage 
			  Duration between Pathways to Work start date and benefit end date 
			  less than one month between one and two months between two and six months between six and 12 months more than 12 months 
		
		
			 Total number of Pathways to Work starts 1 5 22 9 2 
		
	
	
		(b) Existing customers who have volunteered for Pathways to Work
		
			 Percentage 
			  Duration between Pathways to Work start date and benefit end date 
			 Duration on benefit at time of benefit end less than one month between one and two months between two and six months between six and 12 months more than 12 months 
		
		
			 Up to six months 1 1 1 0 0 
			 Six to 12 months 4 1 3 1 0 
			 12 months to five years 10 4 9 6 3 
			 More than five years 4 1 2 2 1 
			 Total 20 7 15 8 3 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Statistics quoted in this response are taken from the Pathways to Work Evaluation database.
	2. Due to time lags in the benefits data a cohort of Pathways starts to the end of May 2005 have been considered.
	3. For new/repeat customers the Pathways start date and the benefit start date are effectively the same.
	4. Not all Pathways spell starts have a benefit claim start date matched to them. This is because the benefits data is taken from the National Benefits Database which does not include a proportion of short term Incapacity Benefit claims.
	5. This response is based on the number of Pathways spells rather than the number of individuals who have started Pathways. This is because an individual may have multiple spells on Pathways but their interaction within Pathways may be different in different spells.
	6. Database development work is required to merge the clerical data used as a basis for reporting on mandated stock customers to our benefits data. This work is currently in progress but resource is not available to complete this within the timescale for this question.

Pathways to Work

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average cost per participant has been in the job brokering option of Pathways to work.

Margaret Hodge: Job broking services for Pathways to work participants are provided through the new deal for disabled people (NDDP). We estimate that the average cost per participant in the NDDP element of the Pathways to work pilots is 1,600.

Pathways to Work

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 7 February 2006 to the hon. Member for Romford, Official Report, column 1170W, on pathways to work, how the estimate of 400 funding per participant was calculated; and what the main components of the cost were.

Margaret Hodge: The 400 figure is an estimate of the average cost per participant in pathways to work pilots. The figure represents the total cost of the pathways to work programme, excluding the return to work credit element, divided by the total number of programme starts.

Pension Credit

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Wirral, West constituency are eligible for pension credit.

Stephen Timms: The information requested is not available.
	Latest estimates of the number of pensioners entitled to the main income-related benefits, including Pension Credit, relate to financial year 20032004. They are available on a national basis only, as estimates cannot be reliably disaggregated at a lower geographical level. They can be found in the DWP report entitled Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 20032004. Copies of the publication are available in the Library. Estimates for 20042005 are expected to be published in May 2006.
	At the end of November 2005 4,000 pensioner households in Wirral West were in receipt of Pension Credit.
	Notes:
	1. The caseload figure is an early estimate, and is rounded to the nearest hundred.
	2. Caseload figures are taken from the Generalised Matching Service (GMS) scan at 25 November 2005, rated up to give end-month estimates.
	3. Operational processing times mean that a number of claim commencements and terminations are not reflected in this figure. The final figure incorporated within the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) will take account of such cases.
	4. Pension Credit (PC) replaced Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) on 6 October 2003. Existing MIG recipients were automatically converted onto Pension Credit on that date (assuming they still met the eligibility criteria).
	5. Household recipients are those people who claim PC either on behalf of themselves only or on behalf of a household. This number is equal to the number of households in receipt of PC. The number of individual beneficiaries is the claimants plus their partners.
	6. Couples may include partners who are aged less than 60.
	7. Parliamentary Constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant postcode directory.

Press Officers

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on press officers in each year since 199697, broken down by grade.

Anne McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions was formed on 8 June 2001 from parts of he former Department of Social Security, the former Department for Education and Employment and the Employment Service. Information prior to 2001 is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The information regarding grade is not available and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
	
		Costs
		
			  Cost () 
		
		
			 200102 816,725 
			 200203 1,739,935 
			 200304 1,146,255 
			 200405 1,533,703 
		
	
	
		Number of press officers employed
		
			  National press officers(197) Regional press officers(197) 
		
		
			 200102 21 0 
			 200203 16 13 
			 200304 20 20 
			 200405 19 23 
		
	
	(197) The number of staff is the number in post at 31 March each year.
	Note:
	The costs are based on average salaries for the year and take into account the actual number of press officers and changes in post each month.

Winter Fuel Allowance

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what the cost of the winter fuel allowance was in 2005; and what the total cost has been since the scheme was established;
	(2)  what the total cost of the winter fuel allowance in the Walsall borough (a) was for 2005 and (b) has been since the scheme started.

Stephen Timms: The information is in the following table.
	
		
			  million, cash terms 
			  Winter fuel allowance paid in Great Britain Winter fuel allowance paid in Walsall 
		
		
			 199798 191 n/a 
			 199899 194 n/a 
			 19992000 759 4 
			 200001 1,749 8 
			 200102 1,681 8 
			 200203 1,705 8 
			 200304 1,916 9 
			 200405 2,475 11 
			 200506 1,994 n/a 
			 Total 12,664 n/a 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Breakdowns at borough level are only available from 19992000 to 200405.
	2. Figures for 200405 include age-related payments, for people aged 70 or over, which cannot be separated from winter fuel payments.
	3. Figures are rounded to the nearest  million.
	4. The figure for the total amount spent in 200506 is estimated outturn- the outturn figure and a figure for Walsall will be available later in the year.
	5. The DWP expenditure tables can be viewed on the internet at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp
	Source:
	DWP Expenditure tables, consistent with Budget 2006, and accounting data from DWP Information Directorate.

Notaries Public

Edward Davey: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what representations her Department has received on the removal of barriers to British notaries public working in the EU.

Bridget Prentice: As I set out in my response to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 22 March 2006, Official Report, column 457W:
	In 2006, my Department received one letter from a Member of Parliament concerning notaries public. No correspondence from notaries public or from members of the public was received in 2005.
	The Notaries Society touched upon this issue in their response to the White Paper, The Future of Legal Services.

Superannuation Liability

Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the total amount of employers' normal contributions accruing superannuation liability charge that have been accounted for by her Office has been in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Bridget Prentice: The amount of employers' accruing superannuation liability charges in respect of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme in the last five years is:
	
		
			   million 
			  Amount 
		
		
			 200405(198) 33.2 
			 200304(198) 31.3 
			 200203(198) 28.7 
			 200102 26.0 
			 200001 24.8 
		
	
	(198) From 1 October 2002 new entrants have been able to opt for a partnership pension account, a stakeholder arrangement with an employer contribution. Employers' contributions to partnership pension accounts are not included in the above figures.

Capita Group

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland 
	(1)  what the value of contracts held by his Department with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries was in the last three financial years;
	(2)  how many tenders (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries has submitted to his Department in each of the last three years; and how many tenders were successful;
	(3)  how many contracts his Department holds with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries which still have a potential duration of five years or more.

David Cairns: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave today to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell.

Departmental Staff

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department spent on temporary staff in each year between 2001 and 2005; and how much it has spent on such staff since July 2004.

Charles Clarke: Between the years 2001 and 2005, the Home Office has spent the following amounts on temporary staff:
	
		
			  Spend on temporary staff () 
		
		
			 2001 20,669,056 
			 2002 41,713,675 
			 2003 54,466,279 
			 2004 38,963,830 
			 2005 15,309,071 
		
	
	Expenditure on temporary staff since July 2004 is 55,371,473.14.
	The immigration and nationality directorate accounted for approximately 75 per cent. of the cost for this financial year, 200405. During the current financial year, this has reduced to approximately 36 per cent. of the total cost.
	The use of temporary staff provides the Home Office with cost effective, flexible resources which can be employed at very short notice. Their employment often allows the Department to react quickly to changes in the demands that it faces by deploying appropriately skilled and experienced individuals quickly to those areas of the business where they are most needed.

DNA Databases

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the countries to whom DNA data collected in the UK has been sent; and how many pieces of data were sent to each in each year in which such data was sent.

Andy Burnham: There are a number of channels for the exchange of DNA information between the United Kingdom and other countries. They include: the United Kingdom National Central Bureau for Interpol (UK NCB) based at the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) which is often used to provide DNA profile data to other countries; bi-lateral direct liaison between law enforcement authorities; and formal mutual legal assistance channels. Exchanges of DNA information via these channels will almost always be a response to the needs of a specific criminal investigation.
	The UK NCB is not currently able to provide data on the countries to which DNA profiles have been sent or on the number of DNA profiles sent to other countries in pursuit of specific criminal investigations. This information will be available later this year following the introduction of a new data collection system (this will not apply to retrospective data). However, it is estimated that DMA data is sent out by the UK NCB to one or more countries on two or three occasions each week. DNA data is only sent abroad where this is deemed necessary by the investigator, and is subject to data protection and human rights risk assessment. No data is available on the number of exchanges of DNA information which occur through direct liaison between law enforcement authorities or formal mutual legal assistance channels.
	There have been two significant exchanges of DNA information in the last two years. In October 2004, 1,687 DNA crime scene profiles from undetected sexual offences in the UK were submitted to the Interpol DNA database (via the UK NCB). In February 2006, 10,763 DNA crime scene profiles from unsolved serious crimes committed in the UK were sent to the Netherlands for checking against the Netherlands DNA database.
	The latter resulted from direct liaison and the development of a reciprocal agreement between the Dutch police and UK police representatives as the Netherlands is currently unable to take advantage of existing exchange mechanisms such as the Interpol database due to legislative restrictions. The Dutch authorities are working towards a solution to allow ratification of the existing mechanisms and also intend to send DNA profiles from unsolved Dutch crime scenes for checking against the UK national DNA database.

Identity Cards

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department (a) has paid and (b) plans to pay in future years to companies working on the Identity Cards programme; which companies have so far received payments; and how much each such company was paid.

Andy Burnham: The amounts paid to companies for work on the Identity Cards Programme since 6 April 2005 is shown in the table. Companies are engaged on different commercial terms depending on the nature of the work. For example KPMG was engaged for a one-off assignment, while others have ongoing contracts or have supplied secondees or personnel. Field Fisher Waterhouse is engaged on a call-off basis and its services are used as and when commercial legal advice is required.
	The contract with PA Consulting commenced in May 2004 and lasts up to a maximum of three years. The contract may be terminated with one month's notice. The total values of the contracts with Whitehead Mann and SIGMA are 50,000 and 75,000 respectively. We cannot release details of estimated contract values for suppliers who will deliver the Identity Cards Scheme as the procurement phase has not yet commenced. These estimates are therefore commercially sensitive and releasing them may prejudice the programme's ability to achieve value for money from the market.
	
		
			 Company Services received Total paid since 6 April 2005 () 
		
		
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse Commercial Legal advice 521,567.37 
			 Interleader Ltd Provides a member of the Independent Assurance Panel 1,582.19 
			 Veredus London Provision of an Interim Manager 134,846.45 
			 The Metropolitan Police Provision of a secondee 34,902.00 
			 PA Consulting Consultancy Services 14,248,799.21 
			 KPMG Accountancy (review of business case) 90,000 
			 CESG Technical and Security Consultancy Services 92,508.31 
			 Ernst and Young Human Resources Consultancy Services 111,211.00 
			 Partnership UK Ltd Consultancy Services 57,302.70 
			 SIGMA Benefits Mapping Consultancy Services 36,600 
			 Abbey Consulting Ltd Consultancy Services 4,054.57 
			 Whitehead Mann Ltd Recruitment Services 16,666.67 
			 Alan Hughes Provides Chair of Independent Assurance Panel 16,329.29 
			 Total  15,366,369.76

Prisons

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of returning a prisoner who has successfully completed his course at HM Prison Grendon into the general prison population on his continued mental health and well being.

Fiona Mactaggart: We are starting work to better address the requirements of prisoners with mental health needs who have participated in therapeutic regimes like those at HMP Grendon. We are taking these steps in recognition that the beneficial effects of such regimes need to be maintained, and be part of a care pathway for individual prisoners that includes appropriate care on return to the mainstream regime and upon release into the community.

Prisons

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken by his Department to increase support for prisoners who have successfully completed courses at HM Prison Grendon and who have been returned to the general prison population.

Fiona Mactaggart: We are starting work to better address the requirements of prisoners with mental health needs who have participated in therapeutic regimes like those at HMP Grendon. We are taking these steps in recognition that the beneficial effects of such regimes need to be maintained, and be part of a care pathway for individual prisoners that includes appropriate care on return to the mainstream regime and upon release into the community.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the (a) demand and (b) supply of (i) further and (ii) higher education in each prison; what mechanisms exist to ensure that supply equals demand; and what action he is taking to increase levels of education provision in prison establishments.

Fiona Mactaggart: I have appointed a head of learning and skills within each prison. Their role includes the assessment of education supply and demand within each prison, and local management of the education provider's contract. Heads of learning and skills report direct to the governor and are members of the prison's senior management team.
	New offender learning and skills delivery arrangements, set out in the Green Paper Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment (December 2005). As the new Learning and Skills Council planning and funding responsibilities are implemented, the strategic role of the head of learning and skills in assessing education supply and demand across the entire prison regime becomes a key function. The new arrangements will also increase the supply of education provision by reducing the incidence of wasteful repeat assessment as offenders move around the criminal justice system.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 7 February 2006, Official Report, column 1135W, on prisons, what plans he has to increase enrolment in education activities at each prison.

Fiona Mactaggart: The Green Paper Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment set out the Government's plans for delivering a better quality and increasingly effective learning and skills service for offenders. Closely allied to the introduction of end-to-end offender management, we expect to increase enrolment in education activities in prisons through better assessment and planning, through a wider curriculum choice and through progressive development of the offender learning and correctional services work force.

Probation Service

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the future of the probation service.

Fiona Mactaggart: There have been significant improvements in the performance of the probation service in recent years. However, we need to do more. We published on Thursday 30 March Working with probation to protect the public and reduce re-offending, a summary of responses to our recent consultation on restructuring probation. This sets out how we will work with the probation service and other partners and providers to develop more effective end to end management of offenders throughout their sentence. We intend to bring forward legislation to give effect to our proposals as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Birth Statistics

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the birth rate was for 16-year olds and under in each of the last five years in Northern Ireland.

Angela Smith: The following table gives Northern Ireland birth rates in each year between 2001 and 2005 where the mother was a Northern Ireland resident aged 16 years old or under at time of birth.
	
		
			 Registration year Number of births to mothers aged 16 and under Female population aged 1316 Birth rate(202)(203) 
		
		
			 2001 171 52,800 3.2 
			 2002 150 52,400 2.9 
			 2003 155 52,000 3.0 
			 2004 172 51,600 3.3 
			 2005(204) 145  2.8 
		
	
	(202) Birth is defined to be either still or live birth. Pregnancies which resulted in the birth of twins, triplets or other multiple births are counted twice, three times, etc.
	(203) Rate per 1,000 females aged 13 to 16 years. Rate for 2005 calculated using 2004 mid-year estimates of population.
	(204) Provisional data.

Birth Statistics

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the birth rate was for (a) 19, (b) 18, (c) 17, (d) 16, (e) 15, (f) 14 and (g) 13-year-olds in each of the four health boards in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years.

Angela Smith: The following table gives birth rates by Health Board and age of mother in each year between 1996 and 2005 where the mother was a Northern Ireland resident.
	
		Birth rates(205)(206) per 1,000 females by Health Board and age of mother, 19962005
		
			 Registration year / Mother's age(207) Eastern HSSB Northern HSSB Southern HSSB Western HSSB Northern Ireland 
		
		
			 1996  
			 Under 15 / 1 0 0 1 
			 15 3 4 2 3 3 
			 16 16 11 10 8 12 
			 17 28 28 19 26 26 
			 18 43 27 37 38 37 
			 19 54 49 57 72 56 
			 19 and under 20 17 15 19 18 
			   
			 1997  
			 Under 15 0 0 0 0 0 
			 15 4 2 1 3 3 
			 16 16 11 7 10 12 
			 17 28 33 18 25 27 
			 18 51 39 36 39 43 
			 19 51 43 56 72 53 
			 19 and under 21 18 14 19 19 
			   
			 1998  
			 Under 15 0 0 0 0 0 
			 15 3 5 2 4 4 
			 16 12 13 7 13 11 
			 17 28 23 23 28 26 
			 18 54 42 50 50 50 
			 19 55 49 57 57 54 
			 19 and under 22 18 17 20 20 
			   
			 1999  
			 Under 15 0 0 0 0 0 
			 15 6 3 3 4 4 
			 16 14 10 7 13 12 
			 17 27 29 21 29 27 
			 18 48 46 41 53 47 
			 19 57 51 59 76 59 
			 19 and under 22 19 16 22 20 
			   
			 2000  
			 Under 15 0 1 0 1 0 
			 15 4 3 3 4 4 
			 16 19 9 7 11 13 
			 17 29 24 18 21 24 
			 18 42 30 41 46 40 
			 19 51 50 53 61 52 
			 19 and under 21 16 15 18 18 
			   
			 2001  
			 Under 15 0 0 0 0 0 
			 15 5 2 1 2 3 
			 16 12 8 10 7 10 
			 17 27 21 20 13 21 
			 18 45 34 35 40 39 
			 19 44 54 49 62 50 
			 19 and under 19 16 15 16 17 
			   
			 2002  
			 Under 15 0 0 0 0 0 
			 15 3 3 1 2 2 
			 16 11 7 6 8 9 
			 17 27 19 16 26 23 
			 18 42 38 32 40 39 
			 19 49 47 39 51 47 
			 19 and under 19 16 13 18 17 
			 2003  
			 Under 15 0 0 0 0 0 
			 15 2 3 3 2 2 
			 16 13 7 8 7 9 
			 17 25 14 18 21 20 
			 18 47 32 25 31 36 
			 19 45 49 57 52 48 
			 19 and under 20 14 14 15 16 
			   
			 2004  
			 Under 15 0 0 0 0 0 
			 15 4 2 2 1 3 
			 16 11 12 8 8 10 
			 17 26 20 14 20 21 
			 18 44 31 30 31 36 
			 19 45 50 52 49 48 
			 19 and under 19 16 13 15 17 
			   
			 2005P  
			 Under 15 0 0 0 0 0 
			 15 4 2 0 2 2 
			 16 11 9 5 7 8 
			 17 28 17 20 18 22 
			 18 41 27 26 24 31 
			 19 44 44 48 50 46 
			 19 and under 19 14 13 14 16 
		
	
	(205) Birth is defined to be either still or live birth. Pregnancies which resulted in the birth of twins, triplets or other multiple births are counted twice, three times, etc.
	(206) Rate per 1,000 females aged 1314, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 1319 respectively. Rate for 2005 calculated using 2004 mid-year estimates of population.
	(207) Under 15 is defined to be females aged 13 or 14-year-olds.
	p Provisional data.

Integrated Education Fund

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the Government has allocated to the Integrated Education Fund in each year since its inception.

Angela Smith: The Department of Education has made the following donations to the Integrated Education Fund since its establishment:
	
		
			   
			 Year of grant Amount 
		
		
			 199293 750,000 
			 199495 2,000,000 
			 19992000 750,000 
			 200304 50,000 
			 200405 1,331.67 
			 200506 750,000 
			 Total 4,301,331.67

Music Therapy

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding has been allocated by each health trust in the Province for music therapy services in each of the last three years.

Shaun Woodward: The information requested is as follows.
	
		
			  
			 Trust 200304 200405 200506 Total 
		
		
			 Homefirst Community Health and Social Services Trust 6,717 7,264 7,380 21,361 
			 Altnagelvin Health and Social Services Trust 9,042 9,105 4,787 22,934 
			 South and East Belfast Health and Social Services Trust 0 1,933 4,401 6,334 
			 North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust 39,110 38,394 39,889 117,393 
			 Total 54,869 56,696 56,457 168,022

Police

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many full-time police officers in Northern Ireland have (a) retired and (b) been recruited over the past five years.

Shaun Woodward: The number of full-time police officers retired and recruited between 24 March 2001 and 24 March 2006 can be found in the following table:
	
		
			   Number 
			  Retired Recruited 
		
		
			 Regular Officers 2,569 2,187 
			 Full Time Reserve 1,481 (221) 
		
	
	(221) Recruitment ceased in 1998.

Special Educational Needs

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average waiting time is in each education and library board area in Northern Ireland for assessment by an educational psychologist to assess the special educational needs of a child.

Angela Smith: The following table shows the average waiting times for assessment by an educational psychologist as at December 2005, the latest data available. The second column shows the average waiting times for an assessment by pupils at Stage 3 of the Code of Practice for the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs (the Code). It should be noted that there are no statutory time limits for provision of these assessments. Column three shows average waiting times for an assessment by pupils at Stage 4 of the Code. The statutory time limit in this case is 16 weeks.
	
		
			   Weeks 
			  Average waiting time 
			 Education and library board Stage 3 Stage 4 
		
		
			 Belfast Education and Library Board 5.29 5 
			 North Eastern Education and Library Board 9.6 5 
			 South Eastern Education and Library Board 47.6 3.35 
			 Southern Education and Library Board 26 6 
			 Western Education and Library Board 7.5 5

Special Educational Needs

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much in additional resources was made available to each education and library board in Northern Ireland to ensure that the provision of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 could be met.

Angela Smith: Additional resources made available to each education and library board in Northern Ireland to ensure that the provisions of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 could be met in schools are as outlined in the attached Appendix.
	
		
			 Appendix 
			 000 
			 Board Disabled access Dispute resolution service/information and advice service Awareness training Total 
		
		
			 200506 
			 BELB 1200 101 150 1451 
			 NEELB 1200 101 150 1451 
			 SEELB 1200 101 150 1451 
			 SELB 1200 101 150 1451 
			 WELB 1200 101 150 1451 
			 Total 6000 505 750 7255 
			  
			 200607 
			 BELB 1000 95  1095 
			 NEELB 1000 95  1095 
			 SEELB 1000 95  1095 
			 SELB 1000 95  1095 
			 WELB 1000 95  1095 
			 Total 5000 475  5475 
			  
			 200708 
			 BELB 1000 102  1102 
			 NEELB 1000 102  1102 
			 SEELB 1000 102  1102 
			 SELB 1000 102  1102 
			 WELB 1000 102  1102 
			 Total 5000 510  5510 
			  
			 Total 16000 1490 750 18240

Housing

Edward Balls: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many units of social housing have been made available in (a) Wakefield district and (b) Normanton constituency since 1980; and how many are planned for the next five years.

Yvette Cooper: For the number of social housing units made available I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 21 March 2006, Official Report, column 279W. Provisionally 35 social rented homes were provided through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme in 200506 in Wakefield. The Housing Corporation's Affordable Housing Programme for 200608 is currently allocating resources to Wakefield to provide 150 social rented homes. Not all of these will be completed in the two year time frame.
	Planned annual housing requirements are developed as part the Regional Spatial Strategies. The Government have set a target of providing 75,000 social rented homes, through a mix of new build and purchase, from 200405 to 200708. Future delivery of social housing after 200708 will be dependent on the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.

Afghanistan

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the administration of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

Hilary Benn: Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK recently undertook an Evaluation of its Humanitarian and Reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan between 2001 and 2005. The evaluation found that the humanitarian assistance provided, when combined with internal Afghan political stabilisation and economic recovery, had been successful in responding to the humanitarian challenge. The evaluation assesses the main implementing bodies on performance. The UN agencies, who were responsible for a large percentage of the humanitarian assistance provided by the UK, were judged in a positive light. The evaluation did find, however, that this aid had come at a high cost because of security and logistical constraints, and that for the same reasons had been unevenly distributed between the regions and communities of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his assessment is of the effectiveness of policies to control the opium trade in Afghanistan.

Hilary Benn: The effectiveness of policies to control drug production in Afghanistan will only be shown if Afghanistan can .achieve reductions in poppy cultivation which can be sustained over the long-term. The updated Afghan National Drug Control Strategy launched at the London Conference on 31 January/1 February 2006, acknowledged that sustainable drug elimination will take many years. The updated strategy sets out the Afghan Government's counter-narcotics policies for the coming three years and highlights priorities where activity is likely to make the greatest impact in the short-term. These are (i) targeting the trafficker and trade; (ii) strengthening and diversifying legal livelihoods; (iii) developing effective counter-narcotics institutions; and (iv) reducing the demand for drugs. DFID believes this is the right approach and is committed to helping the Afghan Government rid Afghanistan of the drugs trade over the long-term through the social and economic development of the country.
	Progress has been made, but it is fragile. There was a significant drop in cultivation in 2005, but early indications suggest that the total area under cultivation in 2006 has increased. This demonstrates that eradication will take time, and alternative livelihoods remain a central part of sustainable eradication.
	In 2005, the area under cultivation fell 21 per cent. (from 131,000 hectares to 104,000 hectares). There were also more seizures (around 160 tonnes of opiates seized since January 2004) 90 convictions by the Criminal Justice Task Force, 247 more cases under investigation, a new counter- narcotics law passed in December and progress on developing alternative livelihoods.
	However, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Opium Rapid Assessment Survey for 2006 carried out over January and February, suggests there may be an increase in the overall levels of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2006, compared with 2005. Although this is only an estimatewe will not know final cultivation figures until the UNODC produce those figures later in the year 2006it does give cause for concern; but it does not mean policies are failing. The headline figures produced by the Rapid Assessment Survey mask significant progress, particularly in provinces where we saw significant reductions last year. For the first time since the Taliban ban in 2000, reductions will be sustained in a number of areas, particularly around provincial capitals, where a more effective Afghan state appears to be driving cultivation into the less accessible peripheral areas.

Lesotho

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total amount of UK aid to Lesotho has been in each of the last 30 years in real terms at current prices.

Hilary Benn: The UK has provided the following aid to Lesotho in real terms:
	
		
			million 
			  UK bilateral aid in real terms at 2004 prices Estimated UK share of multilateral assistance in real terms as at 2004 prices 
		
		
			 1975 20.7 n/a 
			 1976 9.6 n/a 
			 1977 8.9 n/a 
			 1978 19.2 n/a 
			 1979 20.9 n/a 
			 1980 11.7 n/a 
			 1981 12.7 n/a 
			 1982 8.6 4.8 
			 1983 10.2 3.9 
			 1984 10.8 3.7 
			 1985 4.6 4.7 
			 1986 7.2 2.7 
			 1987 7.0 3.4 
			 1988 8.3 3.9 
			 1989 9.5 5.1 
			 1990 8.5 4.3 
			 1991 9.9 3.6 
			 1992 8.2 5.1 
			 1993 8.5 5.6 
			 1994 6.2 6.7 
			 1995 7.7 3.3 
			 1996 6.2 3.6 
			 1997 5.3 2.9 
			 1998 6.0 2.5 
			 1999 3.0 0.1 
			 2000 3.3 2.3 
			 2001 3.1 2.4 
			 2002 1.2 1.9 
			 2003 3.2 3.8 
			 2004 4.0 n/a 
		
	
	n/a = not available
	In addition DFID operates a number of regional programmes, totalling 24 million, from which Lesotho also benefits.

World Health Organisation

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding his Department provided to the World Health Organisation for the publication Safe Abortion: Technical and Policy Guidance for Health Systems; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: DFID did not provide any funding to the Word Health Organisation (WHO) directly for the publication of the technical and policy guidance on safe abortion.
	In September 2000, the World Health Organisation did convene a technical consultation on safe abortion as part of the process of preparing the technical and policy guidance. The technical consultation brought together international experts, including developing country health policy makers, to review the evidence and make recommendations on what the guidance should cover.
	DFID provided 50,000 to support the technical consultation, to help ensure the participation of developing country experts.
	Since 2003, we have provided an annual contribution to the WHO's core budget (currently 12.5 million), for the WHO to allocate against its approved Programme and Budget.

Pay Statistics (Wirral, West)

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average earnings were of full-time employees in Wirral, West constituency in April of each year since 1997.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Jim Matheson, dated 18 April 2006
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question to ask what the average earnings of full-time employees in Wirral West constituency were in April in each year since 1997. I am replying in her absence.
	Average earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for full-time employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence. This is the standard definition used for ASHE. The ASHE does not collect data on the self-employed and people who do unpaid work.
	I attach tables showing Average Gross Weekly Earnings by parliamentary constituency for the years 1997 to 2005 for full-time Employees on Adult Rates. These statistics are also available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=13101.
	The ASHE, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. It is a one per. cent sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes.
	
		Gross weekly pay for full-time employee jobs(250)by place of work
		
			  
			 Wirral West Median Mean 
		
		
			 1997 **287 **367 
			 1998 **300 **377 
			 1999 **351 **420 
			 2000 **295 **373 
			 2001 **330 *414 
			 2002 **349 *410 
			 2003 **395 **479 
			 2004 **355 *435 
			 2004(250) **312 *432 
			 2005 **424 *527 
		
	
	(250) Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.
	(251) Includes supplementary survey details.
	Guide to quality:
	The coefficient of variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality.
	The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV e.g. for an average of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect a population average to be within range 180220.
	Key:
	CV=5%
	* CV5% and =10%
	** CV10% and =20%
	Notes:
	The median replaces the mean as the headline statistic. The weighted mean is the sum of the weighted values divided by the sum of weights. The median is the value below which 50 per. cent of employees fall. It is preferred over the mean for earnings data as it is influenced less by extreme values and because of the skewed distribution of earnings data.
	Source:
	Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics
	
		Gross weekly pay for full-time employee jobs(252) by place of residence
		
			  
			 Wirral West Median Mean 
		
		
			 1997 n/a n/a 
			 1998 n/a n/a 
			 1999 n/a n/a 
			 2000 n/a n/a 
			 2001 n/a n/a 
			 2002 **438 **503 
			 2003 *438 *512 
			 2004 *436 *523 
			 2004(253) *438 *524 
			 2005 *468 *586 
		
	
	n/a. Data not collected before 2002
	(252) Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.
	(253) Includes supplementary survey details.
	Guide to quality:
	The coefficient of variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality.
	The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV e.g. for an average of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect a population average to be within range 180220.
	Key:
	CV=5%
	* CV5% and =10%
	** CV10% and =20%
	Notes:
	The median replaces the mean as the headline statistic. The weighted mean is the sum of the weighted values divided by the sum of weights. The median is the value below which 50 per. cent of employees fall. It is preferred over the mean for earnings data as it is influenced less by extreme values and because of the skewed distribution of earnings data.
	Source:
	Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics

Tax Returns

Philip Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether HM Revenue and Customs is entitled to refuse to issue a receipt to an agent submitting a tax return on behalf of a client.

Dawn Primarolo: I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him in respect of question 58409 on 14 March 2006, Official Report, column 2134W.

Connexions

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much her Department has provided to Connexions in each year since its inception.

Bill Rammell: Connexions was introduced in a staged way from April 2001 and the budgets for each year since its inception are as follows:
	
		
			million 
			  Connexions budget Careers service budget 
		
		
			 200102 151 173 
			 200203 378 52 
			 200304 455  
			 200405 470  
			 200506 475  
			 200607 476

Departmental Finance

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 27 March 2006, Official Report, column 6456W, on departmental finance, if she will place in the Library the annual departmental returns to the Treasury from which the figures were extracted.

Bill Rammell: A summary of the departmental returns on fraud to Treasury for the period 200203 to 200405 giving more detail that the original answer has been placed in the library. Treasury only require returns to be retained for three years so information is not available for 200102. The summary also includes cases that did not incur a financial loss which were excluded from the original figures.
	
		DfES Fraud and Theft Reported to HM Treasury In 2002/03,2003/04 and 2004/05
		
			 Internal Cases 
			  200203 200304 200405 
			 Type of fraud Number of cases Value () Number of cases Value () Number of cases Value () 
		
		
			 Travelling, subsistence and allowances 1 4,400 
			 Pay-related frauds 1 0 2 0   
			 Theft of assets and information 2 0 
			 Exploiting assets and information 1 0 
			 Procurement fraud 1 0 1 0 1 0 
			 Personnel management related fraud 3 0 
			 Fraud related to payment processes   
			 Income related fraud   
			 Other 1 0 
		
	
	
		ExternalPublic
		
			  200203 200304 200405 
			 Type of fraud Number of cases Value () Number of cases Value () Number of cases Value () 
		
		
			 Travelling, subsistence and allowances   
			 Pay-related frauds 1 18,400 
			 Theft of assets and information   
			 Exploiting assets and information   
			 Procurement fraud   
			 Personnel management related fraud   
			 Fraud related to payment processes 1 45,647 
			 Income related fraud   
			 Other 9 156,0880 7 189,527   
		
	
	
		ExternalContractor
		
			  200203 200304 200405 
			 Type of fraud Number of cases Value () Number of cases Value () Number of cases Value () 
		
		
			 Travelling, subsistence and allowances   
			 Pay-related frauds 1 0 
			 Theft of assets and information 1 308 
			 Exploiting assets and information   
			 Procurement fraud 4 65,413 3 0 1 66,000 
			 Personnel management related fraud   
			 Fraud related to payment processes   
			 Income related fraud   
			 Other   
		
	
	
		Unknown (assumed to be internal)
		
			  200203 200304 200405 
			 Type of fraud Number of cases Value () Number of cases Value () Number of cases Value () 
		
		
			 Travelling, subsistence and allowances   
			 Pay-related frauds   
			 Theft of assets and information   
			 Exploiting assets and information   
			 Procurement fraud   
			 Personnel management related fraud   
			 Fraud related to payment processes   
			 Income related fraud   
			 Other

Education Finance

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Government spent per pupil in England on the (a) 4 to 7 years, (b) 7 to 11 years and (c) 11 to 16 years age groups in each year since 2004.

Bill Rammell: Total funding per pupil aged 310 and 1115 for England in 200405 and 200506 is set out as follows. We cannot show the figures for the ages requested.
	The figures are in cash terms and include the pensions transfer to EPS and the LSC.
	
		Cash terms, including pensions transfer to EFS and LSC
		
			  3 to 10-year-olds 11 to 15-year-olds 
		
		
			 200405 3,560 4,460 
			 200506 3,840 4,730 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Price Base: Cash
	2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements. Figures from 200405 include the pensions transfer to EFS, the figures prior to 200304 have not been adjusted.
	3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to pupils aged 1115 and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level.
	4. The pupil numbers used to convert m figures to per pupil are those underlying the EFS settlement calculations.
	5. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
	6. Figures are provisional as some grants have not yet been finalised/audited.

Education Finance

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the funding per pupil was in (a) Taunton constituency and (b) England in each year since 1997.

Bill Rammell: Total funding per pupil aged 319 for Somerset and England between 199798 and 200506 is set out in the following table. Figures are not available at constituency level. The figures are in real terms and exclude the pensions transfer to EPS and the LSC from 200304.
	
		
			
			  Somerset total England total 
		
		
			 199798 2,750 2,940 
			 199899 2,810 3,000 
			 19992000 2,940 3,140 
			 200001 3,170 3,390 
			 200102 3,300 3,550 
			 200203 3,370 3,650 
			 200304 3,490 3,790 
			 200405 3,640 3,950 
			 200506 3,780 4,130 
			 Change since 199798 1,030 1,180 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Price Base: Real terms at 200405 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 23 December 2005.
	2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Standard Spending Assessment/Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS and LSC from 200304.
	3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES departmental expenditure limits relevant to pupils aged 319 and exclude education maintenance allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level.
	4. The pupil numbers used to convert  million figures to  per pupil are those underlying the SSA/EFS settlement calculations plus PLASC three-year-old maintained pupils and estimated three to four-year-olds funded through state support in maintained and other educational institutions where these are not included in the SSA pupil numbers.
	5. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
	6. 200304 to 200506 figures are provisional as some grants have not yet been finalised/audited.

Budget Statement

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the Budget Statement of 22 March 2006, Official Report, column 300, what are the other energy assets referred to; and what estimate he has made of their value.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 30 March 2006
	Through BNFL, the Government own a number of energy related businesses. Other than Westinghouse (which is in the process of being sold to Toshiba for $5.4 billion), BNFL also owns British Nuclear Group (which includes Project Services and BIL Solutions Ltd), Nexia and a 33 per cent. stake in Urenco. The Government also own the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced to the House earlier today that he has given his formal agreement to the sale of British Nuclear Group. The Government have not itself commissioned any assessment of the value of any of these businesses.

Business Links

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what requirements there are on development agencies allocating contracts for Business Links brokerage models to ensure that they conform to the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 in their (a) recruitment, (b) subcontracting, (c) membership of boards and (d) customer service.

Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 22 March 2006, Official Report, column 385W.

Civil Service

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to achieve equal pay for equal work in the civil service.

Meg Munn: The Government is committed to promoting equal pay for equal value of work both in the civil service and the private sector.Although the gender pay gap in the civil service is 25 per cent., this does not take account of the different responsibility levels across the civil service and therefore does not compare equal work. When the gender gap is compared by responsibility level the pay gap is around 5 per cent.
	Every Department and agency in the civil service produced an equal pay action plan in 2003 as part of the Government's commitment to address the gender pay gap. All implemented specific measures to rectify identified problemsand these are lowering the gender pay gap further in Departments. The findings from the reviews were generally encouraging and there is no evidence of any deliberate gender discrimination. Departments and agencies are taking prompt action to address gender pay gaps and are aiming to resolve any unjustifiable gaps in the shortest possible time. The indications are that the work being undertaken by Departments and agencies is having the desired impact of reducing the gender pay gap.
	Cabinet office continues to offer advice and guidance and spread good practice. Key to this is encouraging the use of the 'Guidance on Equal Pay for Government Departments and Agencies' (issued January 2002), which provides a practical working set of guidelines for undertaking an equal pay review and an ongoing checklist for monitoring reward systems against all forms of discrimination.

Cyber Crime

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the cost of cyber crime to UK business.

Alun Michael: I understand that the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) will have a significantly stronger cyber crime function than that of its precursor agencies. Officials in the Department work closely with their colleges in the Home Office, as well as in SOCA precursor units, on action to prevent cybercrime, and Ministers at DTI will discuss such issues with Home Office colleagues as appropriate.

Madagascar

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value of trade was between the UK and Madagascar in each year since 2001.

Ian Pearson: The value of trade between the UK and Madagascar in each year since 2001 was as follows:
	
		
			million 
			  UK Exports UK Imports 
		
		
			 2001 6.7 25.0 
			 2002 3.0 17.9 
			 2003 6.0 16.6 
			 2004 9.3 15.5 
			 2005 6.6 15.5 
		
	
	Note:
	Current price data, Overseas Trade Statistics basis.
	Source:
	Compiled by DTI Statistics from HM Revenue and Customs data.

Mill Hill Research Centre

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment has been made of the need to maintain a containment 4 facility to protect staff and prevent escape of pathogens from the National Institute Medical Research site in Mill Hill; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: My noble Friend Lord Sainsbury of Turville is being briefed on these issues as part of the overall briefing by the MRC's Chief Executive, Professor Colin Blakemore, on MRC's plans for moving the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) to a new site.

Ministerial Visits

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) destination, (b) date and (c) purpose was of each overseas visit made on official business by each Minister in his Department since May 2005.

Alan Johnson: holding answer 30 March 2006
	The Secretary of State undertook the following overseas ministerial visits since May 2005
	
		
			 Destination Date Purpose of visit 
		
		
			 Luxembourg 12 June 2005 Employment and Social Affairs Council 
			 Luxembourg 6 June 2005 Competitiveness Council 
			 Brussels 14 June 2005 Meeting Key People and MEPs 
			 Paris 30 June1 July 2005 European Dinner and Bilateral Mtgs 
			 Brussels 13 July 2005 Address European Parliament (EP) Presidency 
			 Brussels 18 July 2005 Informal EU Trade Ministers' Dinner 
			 Brussels 12 September 2005 EP Regional Affairs Committee plus mtgs with MEPs 
			 Luxembourg 1011 October 2005 Competitiveness Council 
			 Athens 2425 October 2005 Signing Ceremony of the Treaty of the Energy Community 
			 Brussels 2122 November 2005 General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) 
			 Brussels 2830 November 2005 Competitiveness Council 
			 Brussels 78 December 2005 Employment Council 
			 Hong Kong 1019 December 2005 World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial 
			 Davos, Switzerland 2628 January 2006 World Economic Forum Annual Mtg 
			 South Africa 1012 February 2006 Trade Visit and Progressive Governance Summit 
			 Australia and Japan 28 February8 March 2006 Trade and Investment Visit 
			 Moscow, Russia 1516 March 2006 G8 Energy Ministerial Mtg 
		
	
	Lord Sainsbury undertook the following overseas ministerial visits since May 2005.
	
		
			 Destination Date Purpose of visit 
		
		
			 Brussels 10 May 2005 Competitiveness Council 
			 Luxembourg 67 June 2005 Competitiveness Council and Space Council 
			 Brussels 22 June, 2005 To meet the European Commissioner and various MEPs to discuss the European Research Council 
			 Brussels 13 July 2005 Industry, Research and Energy Committee meeting 
			 Nice 1 October 2005 Global Chemical Industry European Convention 
			 Luxembourg 11 October 2005 Competitiveness Council 
			 Brussels 17 November 2005 Colloqium on State Aid for Innovation 
			 Brussels 2829 November 2005 Competitiveness Council 
			 Berlin 56 December 2005 European Space Agency Ministerial Council 
			 Brussels 13 December 2005 Competitiveness Council 
			 India 1623 February 2006 Ministerial visit to push forward international linkages on science and innovation 
		
	
	Meg Munn undertook the following overseas ministerial visits since May 2005.
	
		
			 Destination Date Purpose of visit 
		
		
			 Brussels 13 July 2005 to appear in front of the European Parliament Women's Committee, speech outlined the UK Government plans during the UK EU Presidency in the area of gender equality. 
		
	
	Ian Pearson undertook the following overseas ministerial visits since May 2005.
	
		
			 Destination Date Purpose of visit 
		
		
			 Geneva 1920 October 2005 Bilaterals 
			 Hong Kong 1019 December 2005 WTO Ministerial 
			 India/Sri Lanka 1420 January 2006 CII Conference/bilaterals 
			 Brazil 29 January2 February 2006 Bilaterals 
			 Russian/Ukraine 1924 February 2006 Bilaterals 
			 Libya 47 March 2006 Bilaterals 
			 Paris 30-March 2006 Wilton Park Conference 
			 Hong Kong/China 17 April Bilaterals 
		
	
	Barry Gardiner undertook the following overseas ministerial visits since May 2005.
	
		
			 Destination Date Purpose of visit 
		
		
			 Slovenia 14 June 2005 Various bilaterals with counterpart and other Ministers (UK Presidency Commitment 
			 Estonia 21 June 2005 Various bilaterals with counterpart and other Ministers (UK Presidency Commitment 
			 Norway 31 August 2005 Various bilaterals with counterpart and other organisation on Postal liberalisation 
			 Copenhagen 17 November 2005 Speech: Copenhagen PPP Global Summit and various bilaterals with counterparts 
			 Brussels 2829 November 2005 UK Presidency of the EU (Formal Council of Ministers meetings with a DTI Interest)Research element 
			 Brussels 30 November 2005 Speech: 20th Anniversary of !New Approach' Directives (as part of the Presidency programme) 
			 Washington DC, USA 67 December 2005 Speech: PPP Americas Summit, Washington USA Bilateral on Postal Services 
			 Brussels 30 January 2006 Various Bilaterals on UK policy on EU postal liberalisation: objectives, strategy and tactics 
			 Brussels 7 February 2006 To discuss Services Directive 
			 Strasbourg 14 February 2006 To discuss Services Directive 
			 Brussels 13 March 2006 Competitiveness Council 
			 Netherlands 28 March 2006 Bilateral with counterpart on postal liberalisation 
		
	
	Malcolm Wicks undertook the following overseas ministerial visits since May 2005
	
		
			 Destination Date Purpose of visit 
		
		
			 Brussels 910 June 2005 EU OPEC Dialogue 
			 Brussels 21 June 2005 European Committee 
			 Luxembourg 2728 June 2005 Energy Council 
			 Brussels 13 July 2005 European Committee 
			 Moscow 1113 September 2005 Bilaterals 
			 Washington and Tampa, USA 1823 September 2005 Bilaterals 
			 Brussels 21 November 2005 Keynote Speech (Renewable Energy for Europe) 
			 Brussels 1 December 2005 Energy Council 
			 Vienna 2 December 2005 EU OPEC Ministerial Meeting Dialogue 
			 Oslo 25 February 2006 Sanderstolen Conference 
			 Brussels 14 March 2006 Energy Extraordinary Council 
		
	
	Gerry Sutcliffe undertook the following overseas ministerial visits since May 2005
	
		
			 Destination Date Purpose of visit 
		
		
			 Brussels 17 May 2005 Working Time bilateral discussions 
			 Luxemburg 2 June 2005 Employment Council and Bilateral meetings (EU) 
			 Brussels 11 July 2005 MEP Briefings on UK Presidency 
			 Warsaw Poland 1415 November 2005 Working Time Discussion with Polish Ministers 
			 Brussels 78 December 2005 Employment Council (EU) 
			 Austria (Vilach) 1920 January 2006 Employment Informal Meeting (EU) 
			 Austria (Vienna) 12 February 2006 Demographic Conference arranged by Austrian Presidency (EU) 
		
	
	Alun Michael undertook the following overseas ministerial visits since May 2005.
	
		
			 Destination Date Purpose of visit 
		
		
			 Luxembourg 1920 May 2005 Structural funds event 
			 Berlin 7 June 2005 Telecoms related bilaterals 
			 Paris 1213 June 2005 Paris Airshow 
			 Luxembourg 2627 June 2005 Telecoms Council 
			 Strasbourg 5 July 2005 European Parliament: structural funds 
			 Brussels 13 July 2005 European Parliament's ITRE committee 
			 Brussels 1415 September 2005 Bioscience conference 
			 Brussels 10 October 2005 Structural funds event 
			 Tunis 1617 November 2005 World Summit on the Information Society 
			 Brussels 30 November2 December 2005 Telecoms Council 
			 Budapest, Hungary 1213 January 2006 ICT conference 
			 Vienna, Austria 810 February 2006 ICT conference and bilaterals

Mobile Phones

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will introduce proposals to require the registration of the name and address of owners of pay as you go mobile telephones.

Alun Michael: I along with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary have considered proposals for compulsory registration of mobile phone pre-pay users. However, a number of technical and financial implications have arisen. Some 33 per cent. of pre-pay mobile phone users change handsets, SIM cards or networks in any one year, all of which would entail some amendments to existing records if initial registration had taken place. If compulsory registration was introduced the estimated unit cost of 6 per SIM to administer, associated with this single aspect would not be insignificant and would have to be added to the costs associated with initial registration including, if found necessary, retrospective registration of all existing 41 million users. A compulsory registration scheme would only achieve its purpose if the information given was checked and verified. To do this would add considerable cost and delay to the purchase of a pre-pay phone. We do not at this stage believe the imposition of this burden is warranted.
	The hon. Friend may or may not be aware of the industry's voluntary scheme of registration of pre-pay and post-pay users. Since January 2005 some 15 million (pre-pay and contract customers) have voluntarily registered their details via the industry/law enforcement run website (www.Immobilise.com). The Government believe this voluntary scheme is developing well and should be encouraged, and has decided not to include proposals to mandate the registration of prepaid mobile phones in the Counter Terrorism Bill that receives Royal assent in July 2006. However the wider issue of anonymity is being considered.

Solar Photovoltaics

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the capital grant expenditure on solar photovoltaics was in 2005.

Malcolm Wicks: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for East Surrey on 22 March 2006, Official Report, column 393W.

Superannuation Liability

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what total amount of employers' normal contributions accruing superannuation liability charge has been accounted for by his Department in each of the last five years for which data are available.

Alan Johnson: The amount of employers' accruing superannuation liability charges in respect of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme in the last five year is:
	
		
			  000 
		
		
			 200405(274) 34,876 
			 200304(274) 32,195 
			 200203(274) 30,053 
			 200102 25,324 
			 200001 27,333 
		
	
	(274) From 1 October 2002 new entrants have been able to opt for a partnership pension partnership account, a stakeholder arrangement will an employer contribution. Employers' contributions to partnership pension accounts are not included in the above figures.

Wind Farms

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many wind farm proposals have been rejected in each region in England in each year since 2001.

Malcolm Wicks: The following table provides information on how many wind farm proposals that have been rejected in each region in England, and in each year, since 2001.
	
		
			  Region Number of schemes refused 
		
		
			 2001 Eastern 2 
			 2001 North West 1 
			 2001 South West 4 
			 2002 Eastern 1 
			 2002 North East 3 
			 2003 East Midlands 1 
			 2003 North West 3 
			 2003 South East 2 
			 2003 South West 6 
			 2004 North East 1 
			 2004 North West 4 
			 2004 South West 2 
			 2005 Eastern 1 
			 2005 North East 1 
			 2005 South West 1 
			 2005 West Midlands 1

Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's employer contribution rates to the principal civil service pension scheme are; what assumed rate of return underlies those contribution rates; and what the contribution rate would be if the assumed rate of return was in line with current redemption yield on index-linked gilts.

Don Touhig: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 29 March 2006, Official Report, column 10301031W by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Murphy).

Royal Ordnance

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what volume of orders his Department has placed with Royal Ordnance in each of the last five years.

Adam Ingram: Over the past five years, the following values of orders have been delivered by BAE Systems Land Systems through the Framework Partnering Agreement:
	
		
			   million 
			  Amount 
		
		
			 2001 82 
			 2002 74 
			 2003 88 
			 2004 154 
			 2005 103

Royal Ordnance

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the quality of products produced for the UK armed forces at (a) Royal Ordnance Chorley and (b) Royal Ordnance Bridgwater.

Adam Ingram: Since the takeover by BAES (Land Systems) of the Royal Ordnance sites at Chorley and Bridgewater the products delivered for use by UK armed forces have met the specifications stipulated by the Ministry of Defence.

Service Personnel (Discharge)

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have been discharged into the care of the NHS in each of the last five years due to stress related medical problems.

Don Touhig: The Ministry of Defence recognises that stress-related illnesses can be serious and disabling conditions, but ones that can be treated. We attach a high priority to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Currently, less than 0.1 per cent. of all Service Personnel have had to be discharged annually from the armed forces because of psychological illness.
	Unfortunately, we are unable to give precise figures for Personnel discharged due to stress related problems since this is not held centrally. Collation of such figures would be complicated by the fact that stress related medical conditions, could include both mental health stress conditions and physical conditions of which stress is a component, and any breakdown of figures would not be able to differentiate between these.
	It is the long established practice that the medical care of discharged Service Personnel, whether regular or reservist, passes to the NHS. This is subsequent to the individual either recovering from their condition or their condition being at a stage where it is unlikely to improve significantly. When individuals need to be discharged into NHS care, we make arrangements to ensure smooth transition.

Harassment Complaints

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many complaints of (a) bullying and (b) sexual harassment have been investigated in her Department in each of the last three years; and how many complaints have been upheld.

Jim Knight: The figures are collated each financial year and relate to core Defra and the following agencies PSD, CSL, VMD, CEFAS, RDS and SVS.
	Under Defra's formal equal opportunities complaints procedures between April 2003 and March 2004, six cases of bullying were investigated and one case was upheld. None of the cases related to sexual harassment.
	Between April 2004 and March 2005, five cases of bullying were investigated and one case was upheld. None of the cases related to sexual harassment.
	Between April 2005 and March 2006, six cases of bullying were investigated and no cases were upheld. None of the cases related to sexual harassment.
	The Equal Opportunities Complaints Advisory Team provides advice and guidance on issues of bullying and sexual harassment within the Department via
	An internal intranet website
	Posters/educative events
	A telephone advice line available within normal office hours for staff to ring and speak to a member of the Complaints Advisory Team.
	In addition there is a departmental network of local Harassment, Bullying and Support Advisers and an Employee Assistance Programme providing 365 days a year, 24 hour cover for staff to access further support.

Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's employer contribution rates to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme are; what assumed rate of return underlies those contribution rates; and what the contribution rate would be if the assumed rate of return was in line with current redemption yield on index-linked gilts.

Jim Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Murphy) on 29 March 2006, Official Report, columns 103031W.

Superannuation Liability

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total amount of employers' normal contributions accruing superannuation liability charge that have been accounted for by her Department has been in each of the last five years for which data are available.

Jim Knight: The amount of employers' accruing superannuation liability charges in respect of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme in the last five years is:
	
		
			   000 
			  Consolidated Core Department 
		
		
			 200405(275) 76,762 27,265 
			 200304(275) 45,309 26,074 
			 200203(275) (276)39,194 (276)23,466 
			 200102 (276)36,226 (276)22,493 
			 200001 n/a n/a 
		
	
	(275) From 1 October 2002 new entrants have been able to opt for a partnership pension partnership account, a stakeholder arrangement with an employer contribution. Employers' contributions to partnership pension accounts are not included in the above figures.
	(276) Restated
	Note:
	There are no comparable figures available for the year 200001 as Defra was created as a new Government Department in June 2001.

Capita Group

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have held with directors and senior executives of (i) Capita Group plc. and (ii) its subsidiaries since 1 January 2004; and whether (A) Capita Group plc. and (B) its subsidiaries have provided input (1) in writing and (2) in person to policy discussions in his Department since 1 January 2004.

Derek Twigg: The Secretary of State and the Ministers in his Department have not held any meetings with directors or senior executives of Capita Group plc. and its subsidiaries since 1 January 2004.
	Since 1 January 2004, Capita Group plc. and its subsidiaries have provided input into the Department as set out in the answers I have given him (UIN 61063) and to the hon. Member for Hornchurch (James Brokenshire) (UIN 61453, 61454 and 61455) on 18 April 2006.

Car-share Lanes

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what plans the Government have to build further car-share lanes;
	(2)  what the cost is of establishing the new car-share lane on the M1;
	(3)  if he will make a statement on the new car-share lane on the M1.

Stephen Ladyman: Carpool lanes encourage drivers to share their vehicle by providing dedicated lanes for vehicles with passengers. In December 2004 my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport announced a trial of high occupancy vehicle lanes on the M1 between junctions 7 and 10, as part of the planned widening scheme. The total cost of the car-sharing lane part of the scheme has yet to be finalised, but is currently estimated to be 6 million. The lanes are due to come into operation in 2008.
	On 20 March 2006 my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport announced a second trial of a one-mile high occupancy vehicle lane for traffic joining the M62 eastbound at junction 26 which will be implemented in 2007.
	There are currently no firm plans to introduce further car-sharing lanes on the trunk road network. However, a further review of the trunk road network by the Highways Agency could identify other potential sites which might be assessed to develop a robust programme to deliver other car-sharing schemes.

Departmental Policies

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Islington South and Finsbury constituency, the effects on Islington South and Finsbury of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997.

Derek Twigg: The Department for Transport (DfT) does not routinely hold transport statistics on a parliamentary constituency basis. However, the Department provides Transport for London with a block grant to fund transport delivery in London. This grant has increased by 203 per cent. over the last five years, rising to some 2,181 million in 200506. Drawing on these and other resources, the Mayor is responsible for providing a Transport Strategy for London while the boroughs are required to provide Local Implementation Plans which set out how they will contribute to the Mayor's strategy.
	The additional funding that has been made available has helped deliver 976 million passenger journeys on the Tube in 200405, a rise of 2.7 per cent. from the previous year. The Tube is also running more kilometres than ever before with an all time high in customer satisfaction. Bus services in London have also improved. 1,788 million bus passenger journeys were made in 200405. Patronage has grown by almost 40 per cent. between 19992000 and 200405, rising by 5.0 per cent. in 200405 compared to the previous year. Service reliability on London's buses is at its highest level since records began in 1977.
	Various improvements in relation to cycling have also been realised across London and Islington and Finsbury in particular. Investment in cycling in London has risen during the past five years from 5.5 million in 2000 to 20 million in 200506, and TfL will invest 24 million in cycling infrastructure, training, promotion and education in 200607. The number of recorded cycle journeys on London's major roads rose by 100 per cent. during the last five years59,000 to 119,000 recorded journeys a week, number of cyclists killed or seriously injured has fallen by 40 per cent. during the last five years. London's biggest staffed cycle park opened in Finsbury Park in March 2006, which marked the completion of the latest stage of TfL's 10 million Finsbury Park Transport Interchange Project.
	The Public Performance Measure (PPM) on all heavy rail routes serving the constituency has also been improvingfor example on West Anglia's Great Northern's Inner service, where the PPM has risen from 83.4 per cent. in December 2005 to 94.1 per cent. in March 2006.

Humber Bridge

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent changes have been made to the interest paid on the debt on the Humber bridge; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: In 1998 the debt on the Humber bridge was restructured. This restructuring included significantly reducing the interest rate from an average yearly interest rate of 11.62 per cent. to a fixed consolidated rate of 7.75 per cent. Interest payments were suspended on 240 million of the Secretary of State's debt of 359 million.
	The Department is currently reviewing the debt arrangements and expects to be in a position to approach the Humber bridge operator, the Number Bridge Board, in the near future about a further restructuring.

Eastway Cycling Circuit

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what factors underlay her Department's decision to close the Eastway cycling circuit in September 2006 in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

Richard Caborn: The London Development Agency (LDA) is responsible for assembling the land for the Olympic park.
	Eastway cycle circuit falls within the footprint of the Olympic park and will therefore need to be closed to make way for the construction of the site. I have been informed by my colleagues at the IDA that the decision was taken to close the facility in September 2006 to enable the necessary preparation work to take place ahead of construction works. The site is required at the earliest opportunity due to the presence of contamination and the significant amount of earth works required.
	I understand that the IDA is currently working with stakeholders such as British Cycling to secure an alternative facility for the period during which Eastway is unavailable to users.

Grievance Procedures

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many grievance procedures have been initiated in her Department in each of the last three years.

David Lammy: The number of times the grievance procedure has been initiated in the last three years are so small that they cannot be provided on grounds of confidentiality. 1
	All staff are provided with a personal copy of a leaflet entitled Putting Things Right which gives a quick guide to the informal and formal processes and support this Department has in place for anyone who has a problem or complaint in the workplace which they wish to be addressed. 1 Where there have been less than five cases in any one year this information is suppressed on grounds of confidentiality.

Regional Casinos

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2006, Official Report, columns 25201W, on gambling, if she will publish the work done by her Department on the social cost of regional casinos referred to by the Minister of State on 1 March 2006, Official Report, column 100WH.

Richard Caborn: Exchanges during the Westminster Hall adjournment debate on 1 March 2006, Official Report, column100WH referred to a report published by Hall Aitken in February 2006. The estimate of the possible social cost of regional casinos contained in the Hall Aitken report was based on the February 2004 Henley Centre report Economics and Social Impact Study of the Proposed Gambling Bill which had been commissioned by the British Amusement Catering Trade Association. The Hall Aitken report took no account of any alternative views to the Henley report, including a review of Henley report commissioned by DCMS, which was published on the Department's website in July 2005.
	I set out the research to which we are committed into the impact of the introduction of the new categories of casino permitted by the Act in my previous answer 17 March 2006, Official Report, columns 25201W.

Regional Casinos

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the tendering process will be for regional casinos.

Richard Caborn: The process for the consideration of application for casino premises licences, including the one regional casino premises licence, is set out in Schedule 9 of the Gambling Act 2005.
	If the licensing authority (or licensing board in Scotland) receives more than one application for the regional casino premises licence, it will conduct a two stage process.
	The licensing authority shall first consider in respect of each application whether they would grant it, if there were no limit on the number of regional casino premises licences.
	If more than one application passes this initial stage, the licensing authority is required to determine which of those applications to grant on the basis of which, if successful, would be likely to result in the greatest benefit to the authority's area.
	In making these determinations, the licensing authority will be required to comply with a code of practice which will be issued by the Secretary of State in due course.